Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Agriculture and Environment Protection

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of the decision to end cross-compliance and the accompanying Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition 7b on public rights of way and local highway authority teams.

Mark Spencer: The Good Agricultural and Environmental Condition (GAEC) 7b in cross compliance sets out rules to keep public rights of way accessible and open. These rules must be met by all recipients of former Common Agriculture Policy schemes (Basic Payment Scheme, Countryside Stewardship, Environmental Stewardship and Woodland Schemes). The rules within this GAEC are also in the Highways Act 1980 and therefore apply to all farmers and land managers. The Highways Act 1980 legislation will continue following the end of cross compliance and will be enforced by local highway authorities as it is currently. This means that the rules that protect public rights of way will remain in place after the end of cross compliance and all farmers and land managers will need to continue to adhere to them. The loss of GAEC 7b does not change the role or remit of local highway authority teams.

Fire Prevention

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps she is taking to prevent wild fires in summer 2023.

Trudy Harrison: In December 2021, the Home Office published the Wildfire Framework for England which identifies responsibilities, clarifies relationships and facilitates coordination at Government level and between key wildfire stakeholders in England. This multi-agency approach mitigates the risks and impacts of wildfire to people, property, habitats and wildlife and to provide an effective response to wildfire incidents.In addition to the promotion of sustainable land management practices to mitigate against wildfire and the provision of prevention and response training modules to land managers, Defra works closely with stakeholders and other Government departments to coordinate proactive public communications during periods of high wildfire risk.

Agriculture: Fire Prevention

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the role of (a) UK agriculture and (b) farmers in (i) preventing and (ii) fighting wild fires.

Trudy Harrison: In April 2021 Defra supported the development of a new training program, designed to consolidate knowledge, skills and understanding of vegetation fires including wildfire incidents.To date, 794 Lantra Accredited prevention and response modules have been completed by public and private land managers. Between April 2021 and March 2025, Defra will have contributed a total of £105,000 towards the development and delivery of this training. We continue to work closely with a range of stakeholders including land managers, the Forestry Commission, NFU, environmental NGOs and the National Fire Chiefs Council to embed this training across England, and to identify and respond to further training requirements.

Farms: New Businesses

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many new farms have been recruited to the New Entrant Support Scheme since its introduction; and what other steps her Department is taking to support new farmers.

Mark Spencer: The New Entrant Support Scheme is still under development. We are just completing five pilots to test different approaches to providing support to build entrepreneurial capacity in new and recent entrants to increase their potential to access land and finance. We will be evaluating these pilots over the next few months working with stakeholders with a view to deciding on the next steps in the autumn. The Government is also contributing towards the establishment of a new professional body, The Institute for Agriculture and Horticulture (TIAH). This initiative is aimed at removing the fragmentation that exists within the current learning and skills landscape for farming businesses. TIAH will enable the industry, including those newly or recently entering it, to drive forward greater uptake of skills through creating clear career development pathways.

Waste Disposal: Greater London

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in London in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the North East in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in Yorkshire in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the North West in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the East Midlands in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the West Midlands in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the South East in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the East of England in 2021-2022.

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what percentage of rubbish sent to be recycled was rejected due to unrecyclable plastic materials in the South West in 2021-2022.

Rebecca Pow: Defra do not hold the data to calculate the percentage of unrecyclable plastic material rejected from the waste material collected for recycling in England. Overall rejection tonnages for Household waste collected by Local authority and region can be found in the published datasets: ENV18 - Local authority collected waste: annual results tables 2021/22 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Packaging: Waste Disposal

Jim McMahon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to her Department’s statistics entitled Local authority collected waste management - annual results 2021/22, published 24 March 2023, what steps her Department is taking to work with manufacturers to reduce the use of unrecyclable packaging.

Rebecca Pow: The UK Government wishes to see unnecessary or excess packaging on products reduced and, where used, for the packaging to be easy to recycle. These are key objectives of our new Extended Producer Responsibility for packaging (pEPR) policy, which will be introduced across the UK from 2024. This will include measures which will require businesses that use packaging to pay fees to cover the costs of collecting and treating household packaging waste handled by local authorities. This means that – for the first time - businesses will be responsible for the cost of managing their packaging once it reaches its end of life. From 2025, the fees producers pay will also be varied (modulated) so that fees for easily recyclable packaging will be lower than those for packaging that cannot be recycled. This will place a strong financial incentive on packaging producers to reduce the overall amount of packaging they use, encourage businesses to design and use packaging that is easily recyclable, and encourage the use of reusable and refillable packaging. This will reduce the amount of unsustainable packaging that is used each year, and ensure that the packaging that is used can be recycled and the materials returned into the economy.

Food: Prices

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to tackle increases in food prices..

Mark Spencer: Tackling inflation is this Government’s number one priority, with a plan to more than halve inflation this year. We understand that food price inflation reached 19.2% in March of this year, an increase compared to February 2023 when it was 18.2%. This was driven by a combination of inflationary factors across the food chain. Industry analysts are of the opinion that we are either at or very close to the food price inflation peak. They then expect food price inflation to gradually decrease over the remainder of 2023. This means that food prices are expected to still increase, but at a slower rate than before. Food prices are set individually by businesses and it is not for HM Government to set retail food prices nor to comment on day-to-day commercial decisions by companies. Through regular engagement, Defra will continue to work with food retailers and producers to explore the range of measures they can take to ensure the availability of affordable food. For example, by maintaining value ranges, price matching and price freezing measures.

Farms: Westmorland and Lonsdale

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms in Westmorland and Lonsdale are part of Countryside Stewardship.

Mark Spencer: As of 20 April 2023 there are 378 farms in Westmorland and Lonsdale that have Countryside Stewardship agreements.

Bovine Tuberculosis: Disease Control

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the (a) effectiveness of badger culls in tackling bovine TB and (b) reliability of the TB test used to identify cattle for slaughter; and what estimate her Department has made of the (i) annual cost of bovine TB in Shropshire and (ii) level of bovine TB in that county.

Mark Spencer: Evidence suggests that the badger cull has been effective in reducing bovine tuberculosis (TB) incidence in cull areas by 45% after three years of culling and 50% after four years. TB statistics for England show that disease incidence (i.e., the rate at which new cases or ‘breakdowns’ are detected in officially TB free herds) in the High Risk Area, where approximately 80% of all the TB-affected (breakdown) herds are located, has been decreasing since 2017. The percentage of cattle herds under TB restrictions in England (prevalence) is at its lowest level (4.5%) since 2010 (4.2%), having peaked at 6.4% in March 2018. The cornerstone of TB control in cattle and other species is the accurate detection and removal of animals infected with the bovine TB bacterium Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis) before they can spread the disease to other animals. The main screening test for TB in cattle in Great Britain is the single intradermal comparative cervical tuberculin (SICCT) test. This is commonly known as the tuberculin skin test, which is used throughout the world to screen cattle, other animals and people for TB. It is the internationally accepted standard ante-mortem technique for detecting M. bovis infection in most species of mammals, including cattle. All the official tests used in the ante- and post-mortem diagnosis of TB in cattle are thoroughly validated and evaluated by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA). The SICCT test has a very high specificity, generating on average only one false positive result for every 5,000 - 6,000 uninfected cattle tested. However, it is only moderately (80%) sensitive, with about one in five bTB-infected cattle potentially missed by the test. This is why APHA uses the more sensitive (but less specific) interferon-gamma blood test to supplement the primary skin test in some herds affected by TB incidents. This helps accelerate the detection and removal of all the infected animals in such herds and reduce the risk of repeat (recurrent) breakdowns. In September 2020 my Department increased the frequency of routine TB surveillance testing for most cattle herds in Shropshire from annually to every six months, with the first additional skin herd tests starting in March 2021. As a result of the increased frequency of testing, 583,056 animal TB tests were completed in Shropshire in 2022. This resulted in a total of 1,981 cattle being compulsory slaughtered for TB control reasons in 2022 out of 583,056 animal TB tests completed in the county, at an estimated net compensation cost of £1.8M. This was lower than the peak of 2,357 cattle slaughtered in 2011, out of 425,787 TB tests completed in the county. There were 232 new TB herd incidents detected in Shropshire in 2022, which is the lowest annual figure since 2007 and substantially fewer cases than the peak of 353 in 2013. 11.1% of herds in Shropshire were under TB restrictions at the end of the year. For the complete and most recent set of official historical statistics for TB in cattle in Shropshire, published by my Department at the beginning of March, please see: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1140736/England_HRA_bTB_Statistics_by_Measure_08mar23.ods.

Sustainable Farming Incentive: Westmorland and Lonsdale

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many farms in Westmorland and Lonsdale are part of the Sustainable Farming Incentive.

Mark Spencer: As of 20 April 2023 there are 25 farms in Westmorland and Lonsdale that have Sustainable Farming Incentive agreements.

Marine Protected Areas: Fisheries

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the ban on bottom trawling in more highly protected marine areas.

Mark Spencer: Highly Protected Marine Areas are areas of the sea which will prohibit all destructive, extractive, and depositional activities, including bottom trawling. The Government announced it will explore additional Highly Protected Marine Areas this year. We will also continue to ban bottom trawling in our Marine Protected Areas wherever that is needed to protect the designated species and habitats. The Marine Management Organisation recently consulted on a byelaw to manage fishing using bottom towed gear in a further 13 sites and is now analysing the responses received.

Food: Labelling

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what progress she has made on developing a system of food labelling to indicate the sustainability of the supply chain of food products.

Mark Spencer: The Government Food Strategy set out our commitment to deliver a sustainable and nature positive food system. Improving sustainability information is one of the ways we can support consumers who want to buy more sustainable food, tackle greenwashing and the proliferation of different labels on products to help to meet our climate and environmental goals. We have launched a Food Data Transparency Partnership which will develop a mandatory methodology that must be followed by those who want to use eco-labels or make sustainability claims about their products. We are working closely with industry and other technical experts, and will build on existing initiatives and schemes to develop our proposal, and will consult publicly on our plans in due course.

Livestock: Antibiotics

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent assessment she has made of the level of risk to human health of antimicrobial-resistant superbugs originating from industrial farms.

Mark Spencer: Resistant bacteria and/or resistance genes can transfer between people and animals in both directions. The Veterinary Medicines Directorate, along with other governmental partners, conducts two surveillance schemes for AMR in animals, including regular monitoring of AMR in major food-producing species: pigs and poultry. The results of these surveillance schemes are published annually in the UK Veterinary Antibiotic Resistance and Sales and Surveillance Report. Since 2014, the UK has reduced sales of veterinary antibiotics by 55% since 2014, and over this same period the UK have seen overall trend of decreasing antimicrobial resistance in bacteria from animals. The UK has a cross-government contingency plan in place which acts as an early warning system for resistant bacteria found in animals with potential risk to animal and public health.

Livestock: Antibiotics

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a ban on the preventative use of antibiotics on healthy farm animals to help (a) stop antimicrobial resistance and (b) safeguard the effectiveness of lifesaving antibiotics used to treat human illnesses.

Mark Spencer: The Government is committed to reducing unnecessary use of antibiotics in animals while safeguarding their welfare. Changes to the law on veterinary medicines represent one tool that can be used to help effect reductions in antibiotic prescribing in animals. The Veterinary Medicines Regulations 2013 are currently under review, and the feedback from the recently closed public consultation will be analysed and considered. The publicly available consultation documents for the revision of the Veterinary Medicines Legislation set out the rationale for the Government’s proposed approach to the use of antibiotics to prevent disease in animals (prophylaxis). In summary, the proposed new legal restrictions on antibiotic prophylaxis prohibit this type of use in all but exceptional circumstances in order to reduce unnecessary antibiotic use, protect animal welfare and allow changes to prescribing practices to be made sustainably. To date in the UK, collaborative working between the Government, the veterinary profession and the agriculture sectors to focus on these issues has already resulted in our national sales of veterinary antibiotics reducing by 55% since 2014, and in 2021 we recorded the lowest antibiotic use yet. The Government takes a ‘One-Health’ approach to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as set out in the UK National Action Plan on AMR. Officials from the Department of Health and Social Care, Defra and the Veterinary Medicines Directorate meet regularly to consider appropriate actions to address AMR across the human and animal health sectors. This has included discussion on the preventative use of antibiotics in healthy farm animals.

Avian Influenza: Disease Control

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps her Department is taking to monitor and mitigate the risk of the H5N1 virus to wild and farmed birds as seabirds return to the UK's coastlines for nesting.

Mark Spencer: We recognise the significant threat posed by avian influenza to both kept and wild birds and share the concerns about the impact on wild bird breeding populations in the future, particularly seabirds that nest closely in large numbers. For kept birds the enhanced biosecurity measures mandated by the Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) in force across the UK remain vital to protecting flocks across the country. For wild birds Defra’s Mitigation Strategy for Avian Influenza in Wild Birds in England and Wales supports the Notifiable Avian Disease Control Strategy for Great Britain and provides guidance to conservation charities, ornithologists and land managers including local authorities, on how to prepare and respond to suspected and confirmed findings of avian influenza in wild birds. Defra’s approach to tackling this year’s avian influenza outbreak continues to be led by international best practice and the latest evidence, which suggest that unlike in kept birds there are limited measures that can be taken to reduce transmission between wild birds and in seabird colonies in particular.  However, we’re doing all we can to tackle the impact of avian influenza in wild birds, with year-round surveillance, a new research consortium – backed by £1.5m in research funding – to develop new strategies to tackle avian influenza outbreaks, and working closely and meeting regularly with conservation charities, including the WWT, National Trust and RSPB, to consider any further action we can take.  We will work with Natural England as well as key external organisations to develop and implement appropriate actions to support the recovery of vulnerable bird populations in England.

Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether she plans to extend the carry-over motion to the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill before 8 June 2023.

Mark Spencer: The remaining stages of the Kept Animals Bill will be announced in the usual way.

Salt and Sugar: Taxation

Jo Gideon: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the National Food Strategy, published in July 2021, whether she is taking steps with Cabinet colleagues to implement (a) the first recommendation on introducing a sugar and salt reformulation tax and (b) other recommendations from that report.

Mark Spencer: The Government does not consider that now is the right time to introduce new taxes that will push up the cost of food. The affordability of food, and individuals’ access to food, is a key element of the Government’s approach to tackling poverty as we manage the impact of cost-of-living pressures. In 2022 the Government published its Food Strategy, which considered and responded to Henry Dimbleby’s independent review.

Farms

Tim Farron: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether her Department holds data on the number of farm holdings in every constituency.

Mark Spencer: Defra does not hold data on the number of farm holdings in every constituency because not all farms are required to register with the department. Based on the farms which are registered with Defra for either subsidy purposes or for livestock keeping requirements, we can produce statistical estimates of the number of farms which have significant levels of farming activity in each constituency.

Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Genetics: Foreign Companies

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what regulatory framework is in place for foreign parties that access and utilise human genetic resources when operatingintheUK.

George Freeman: Organisations which hold human genetic data are subject to the UK General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In addition, Genomics England, UK Biobank and NIHR BioResource actively consider national security in decision making about partnerships with companies overseas. These organisations consulted with security personnel on a regular basis to ensure partnerships are aligned with our national security interests.The Human Tissue Authority, a non-departmental body of the Department for Health and Social Care, is the independent regulator of organisations that remove, store and use human tissue for research, medical treatment, post-mortem examination, education and training, and display in public. It enforces the Human Tissue Act 2004 which regulates the removal, storage and use of human tissue.

Horizon Europe: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 4 of the Pioneer Prospectus, published on 6 April and to page 295 of the Central Government Supply Estimates 2022-23, HC 1133, whether the remaining funding allocated to association with Horizon Europe includes the surrendered unused funding for Horizon and Euratom participation fee.

George Freeman: As is usual practice for all spend, the return of funding to the Exchequer in 22/23 reflected the anticipated underspend within the EU programmes ringfence in that financial year. The commitment to invest up to £14.6bn makes clear that, by 2027/28, the same funding as that originally set aside for Horizon association (as agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement) would be invested in the UK’s alternative, Pioneer.

Advanced Research and Invention Agency: Science and Technology

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 5 of the Pioneer Prospectus, published on 6 April, how Pioneer would work alongside the Advanced Research and Invention Agency.

George Freeman: Pioneer would complement the existing UK R&D funding landscape and form part of the Government’s historic commitment to increase public sector R&D investment to £20bn per annum in 2024/25. ARIA will have maximum autonomy over its research and project choice; its procedures; and its institutional culture. Decisions on the programme portfolio will be set by ARIA, not ministers, and allocation of funding to research projects will be decided by those with relevant technical expertise.

Science and Technology

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 13 of the Pioneer Prospectus, published on 6 April, when she plans to specify the sector or missions of the inspiring moon shots in Pioneer Innovation.

George Freeman: The Government is discussing association to Horizon Europe with the EU and hope these negotiations will be successful. While association is the preferred outcome, the Government is clear that it would need to be on the basis of a good deal for the UK’s researchers, businesses and taxpayers. If the UK are not able to secure association on fair and appropriate terms, Pioneer will be implemented – our bold, ambitious alternative.Over the coming months, the Department will engage with and seek further input from a range of stakeholders including researchers, businesses and industry as these proposals are developed.

Science and Technology: Grants

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to the Pioneer Prospectus, published on 6 April, how much and what proportion of the funds allocated to Pioneer will be available as research grants.

George Freeman: If the Government is unable to secure association on fair and appropriate terms, Pioneer, will be implemented. UK researchers would receive as much funding from Pioneer as the UK would have paid to associate to Horizon from 2021 to 2027 (as agreed in the Trade and Cooperation Agreement). All of this funding will be classified as R&D.

Horizon Europe

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when her Department plans to decide whether to extend the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme; and whether researchers will be notified in advance of the scheme ending.

George Freeman: The Government established the Horizon guarantee to ensure there is no loss in funding for the UK sector. The guarantee is in place to cover all Horizon Europe calls that close on or before the end of June 2023. Eligible, successful applicants to Horizon Europe will receive the full value of their funding at their UK host institution for the lifetime of their grants. The Government continues to monitor the situation closely and may consider whether it is appropriate to change the scope of the guarantee, in which case it will provide updated guidance.

Life Sciences: China

Alicia Kearns: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to ensure that private Chinese companies operating in the life sciences sector are adhering to UK ethicalstandards.

George Freeman: The Life Sciences sector in the UK is key to both the health and economic growth of our country and, through our new Department of Science, Innovation and Technology, this Government is committed to placing the UK at the forefront of global scientific and technological advances.All life sciences companies operating in the UK must adhere to UK ethics standards, research codes of conduct and associated legal obligations. We will shortly publish our new UK Biological Security Strategy, under the umbrella of my Rt. Hon. Friend the Prime Minister’s Integrated Review, which will outline our approach to preventing biological threats as science and technology develops.

UK Research and Innovation: Expenditure

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to page 142 of the Annual Report and Accounts 2021-22 of the UK Research and Innovation, for what reason there was a reduction in net operating expenditure from 2020-21 to 2021-22.

George Freeman: UK Government investment in R&D is subject to changes between years that reflect the profile of long-term investments. For example, in FY 2020/21, there was a one-time increase to infrastructure investment of £300 million through UKRI’s world class labs which concluded in 2021/22. In FY 2021/22, as a result of the challenging financial situation resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government made a temporary reduction to the UK’s Official Development Assistance target, from 0.7% to 0.5% of GDP. This led to a reduction in UKRI’s ODA-eligible R&D expenditure by £256 million in FY 2021/22 compared to FY 2020/21.

Copyright: Arts

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, when she plans to re-open consultation with creative industries on proposals for licensing or exceptions to copyright for text and data mining.

George Freeman: The Government has already announced it will work with creative industries and AI developers to develop a code of practice on text and data mining licensing by the Summer.

Copyright: Arts

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what discussions her Department has had with creative industries on (a) licencing and copyright exceptions for text and data mining and (b) the AI Regulation White Paper in 2023.

George Freeman: The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) speaks to representatives of the creative industries on a regular basis and its officials have met with them on text and data mining (TDM), in relation to former proposals to introduce a broad exception for data mining, as well to discuss the current work to develop a code of practice on TDM. DSIT officials have also worked in close partnership with officials at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) to understand the key insights on TDM gained from their engagement with the creative industries. Relevant Ministers and officials at DCMS and DSIT have engaged extensively across creative industries and the wider AI sector. This has included professional associations representing the creative industry, holders of rights to creative content, platforms that host creative content, broadcasters, creative industry professional associations and unions, as well as providers of content-creation tools.

Science: Finance

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether spending on Horizon was included in calculations of UK science spend prior to 2016; and whether spending on Horizon or Pioneer forms part of the Government's commitment to double science spend.

George Freeman: The annual ONS release, Research and development (R&D) expenditure by the UK government, includes indicative UK contributions to EU R&D expenditure, both recently and in editions prior to 2016. The breakdown can be found in the link below:https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/governmentpublicsectorandtaxes/researchanddevelopmentexpenditure/bulletins/ukgovernmentexpenditureonscienceengineeringandtechnology/previousReleases. This Government has recommitted to increasing public expenditure on R&D to £20 billion per annum by 2024/2025 - a cash increase of approximately a third compared to 2021/22. This includes funding for the UK’s association to Horizon Europe if the UK can agree fair and appropriate terms with the EU, or its alternative, Pioneer, if the UK is unable to secure association.

Home Office

HM Passport Office: Labour Turnover

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the attrition rate in His Majesty’s Passport Office was in financial year (a) 2021-22 and (b) 2022-23.

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish data on the level of attrition at HM Passport Office in the last 12 months.

Robert Jenrick: There are currently no plans to publish the rate of attrition at His Majesty’s Passport Office, I refer the Rt Hon member to my answer to Question 170563: Written questions and answers - Written questions, answers and statements - UK Parliament.

Asylum: Health Services

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the ability of asylum seekers housed on (a) military bases, (b) accommodation barges, (c) cruise ships and (d) other non-urban locations to access medical care.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office will ensure that all accommodation is safe, habitable, fit for purpose and meets all regulatory requirements.

HM Passport Office: Staff

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many passport officers were employed by her Department in (a) March 2022 and (b) March 2023.

Robert Jenrick: The table below shows His Majesty’s Passport Office’s workforce as full-time equivalents for the requested months: Mar-22Mar- 23*Civil servant32844098Non-civil servant1185552Total44694650 *Restructuring between July and August 2022 caused around 300 full-time equivalent staff to be moved out of HM Passport Office to another part of the Home Office. These staff did not routinely process passport applications.

Immigration Removal Centres and Short-term Holding Facilities: Buildings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many and what proportion of (a) migrant processing centres, (b) immigration removal centres and (c) short-term holding facilities are affected by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete on the structural integrity of those buildings.

Robert Jenrick: All IRCs and residential STHFs are subject to inspection by qualified building surveyors and condition surveys are conducted on a yearly basis, the most recent having been undertaken in January 2023. To date we have not identified any reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in these structures.

Asylum: English Language

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of the ability of asylum seekers housed on (a) military bases, (b) accommodation barges, (c) cruise ships and (d) other non-urban locations to access English for speakers of other languages classes.

Robert Jenrick: We are working through the design of these sites and a wide range of measures. This includes access to language classes, recreational activities, healthcare, welfare, safeguarding considerations, and other matters.

Asylum: Hotels

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what estimate she has made of the number of asylum seekers housed in contingency hotels who have been waiting over a year for an outcome on their asylum application.

Robert Jenrick: The information requested could not be obtained without disproportionate cost.

Public Buildings

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment her Department has made of the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete in (a) police stations and (b) fire stations in England and Wales and its potential impact on the structural integrity of those facilities.

Chris Philp: The Home Office is not responsible for assets belonging to the police and fire services, which would include police station and fire station buildings.It is the responsibility of individual police and fire and rescue services to manage their estate and ensure it is safe and compliant with the relevant legislation.

Stop and Search: Greater Manchester

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March to Question 174473 on Stop and Search: Greater Manchester, what proportion of people stopped and searched by Greater Manchester Police were persons whose self-defined ethnicity was unknown in the year to March 2022.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes data on stop and search on an annual basis. The most recent data, for the year ending March 2022, is available here:Police powers and procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales, year ending 31 March 2022 - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)Excluding vehicle-only searches (249), Greater Manchester Police stopped and searched 9,393 people in the year ending March 2022, of which the individual’s self-defined ethnicity was ‘not stated’ in 1,703 cases (18%).

Offensive Weapons

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many (a) lethal firearms, (b) non-lethal firearms, (c) knives and (d) other offensive weapons were seized by all agencies and forces funded by her Department in each of the last five calendar years up to the end of 2022.

Chris Philp: The Home Office does not centrally hold all of the information requested.Information on offensive weapons and firearms seized by police forces through stop and search are collected and published annually on a financial-year basis.These data are available in the Home Office’s ‘Police Powers and Procedures: Stop and search and arrests, England and Wales’ publication.Comparable data are only available since the year ending March 2021.

Knives: Crime

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle knife crime in London.

Chris Philp: Whilst the Mayor of London has operational responsibility for policing in the capital, this Government is committed to providing additional resources to the police and their partners to tackle violent crime and make our streets safer.To support the prevention of violence in London, we have allocated the London Violence Reduction Unit (VRU) c.£33.7m since 2019, including a c.£12.6m allocation in the last financial year (2022/23). The VRU also received an additional investment of £5.5m in 2021/22 to deliver specific, highly targeted interventions to vulnerable young people.We are also providing funding to enable the Metropolitan Police to increase enforcement activity where most violence occurs, through our Grip programme (previously known as Surge). The Metropolitan Police have been allocated approximately £50.9m over the last three years, including £7.9m in the last financial year (2022/23) for Grip. Through this programme, the Metropolitan Police are delivering data-driven, targeted visible patrols to suppress violence where it is most concentrated.Grip and VRU funding is provided in addition to the commitment to increase the number of police officers in England and Wales by 20,000 by March 2023.The Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) has recruited 3,217 additional uplift officers against a total three-year allocation of 4,557 officers, as of 31 December 2022.Additionally, the Government continues to encourage police forces to undertake a series of coordinated national weeks of action to tackle knife crime under Operation Sceptre. The latest phase of the operation took place between 16 to 22 May 2022. In the Metropolitan and City Police areas 126 knives were seized during enforcement action with a further 90 being surrendered or seized during sweeps.

Demonstrations: Police

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department are taking to provide the police with support to stop disruptive protests.

Chris Philp: The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 is already in force. This raised the maximum penalty for wilful obstruction of the highway, put public nuisance on to a statutory footing, and brought much needed updates to the Public Order Act 1986. The police are already using the public nuisance measure to tackle disruptive.The Government intended to add further measures to the PCSC Bill but these were blocked in the Lords. Consequently, we introduced the Public Order Bill, which is now passing through Parliament and will further improve the police’s ability to respond to highly disruptive tactics. For example, lock-on offence and the associated stop and search power will allow the police to pro-actively prevent the selfish minority of protesters from causing serious disruption to the lives of the hard-working majority.The Government will continue to work closely with the police going forwards to make sure they are able to make full use of these powers.

Bicycles: Theft

Ruth Cadbury: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many charges have been bought for the theft of bicycles in (a) London and (b) England in each year since 1 January 2018.

Chris Philp: The Home Office collects and publishes official statistics on investigative outcomes of crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, on a quarterly basis.These can be accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/police-recorded-crime-open-data-tablesAccording to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW), in the year to September 2022, bicycle theft had reduced by 49% compared to the year to March 2010. This can be found at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/crimeandjustice/datasets/crimeinenglandandwalesappendixtables

Drugs: Antisocial Behaviour

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent progress her Department has made on reducing drug related anti-social behaviour in England.

Chris Philp: On 27 March we published the Anti-social Behaviour (ASB) Action Plan. The ASB Action Plan commits to tackling ASB across five key themes: stronger punishment; making communities safer; building local pride; prevention and early intervention; and improving data, reporting and accountability for action.This plan is backed by £160m of funding. This includes up to £60m to fund an increased police and other uniformed presence to clamp down on anti-social behaviour, targeting hotspots. Initially we will work with 10 police force areas, but from 2024 we will support a hotspot approach across every police force area in England and Wales.We are also providing up to £50m to support the provision of Immediate Justice, by issuing out of court disposals with conditions to swiftly repair any damage – the aim being for them to start within 48 hours of the offence. This will start in 10 initial trailblazer police force areas and be rolled out nationally in 2024.Specifically in relation to drug misuse, an expansion in Drug Testing on Arrest is already underway and the ASB Action Plan commits to going further, including expanding testing to all Class A drugs. In addition, the ASB Action Plan announced our intention to ban nitrous oxide. This builds on the government’s 10-year Drug Strategy ‘From Harm to Hope’. The strategy sets out an ambitious long-term vision for real change and is underpinned by a record investment of £3 billion from 2022-25. Much of this investment is in creating a world-class treatment and recovery system, including a phased expansion to deliver at least 54,500 new high-quality drug and alcohol treatment places. This will help to tackle the cycle of crime and reoffending which drugs fuel.

Drug Seizures

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, when she intends to publish the annual data for the seizures of drugs in England and Wales for the financial year ending 2022.

Chris Philp: The Seizures of drugs in England and Wales for the financial year ending 2022 was published at 9.30am on Thursday 20th April.

Fentanyl: Drug Seizures

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what category is used to record seizures of fentanyl and fentanyl analogues in figures for drug seizures included in Border Force transparency data.

Chris Philp: Any seizures of Fentanyl or Fentanyl analogues would come under other Class A drugs in the Border Force transparency data.

Members: Correspondence

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a process exists for hon. Members to raise urgent immigration cases directly with the Minister for Immigration.

Robert Jenrick: All urgent enquiries should be sent to the MP Account Management team’s urgent inbox at mpurgentqueries@homeoffice.gov.uk.

Asylum

Sir Chris Bryant: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April to Question 175523 on Asylum, how many asylum applications were awaiting processing in June 2010.

Robert Jenrick: The Home Office publishes data on asylum in the ‘Immigration System Statistics Quarterly Release’. Data on asylum applications awaiting initial decision can be found in table Asy_D03 of the ‘asylum and resettlement detailed datasets’. The latest data covers the period from June 2010 to December 2022.

Refugees: Children

Hilary Benn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether counselling support is being provided to children from Afghanistan who are separated from parents who remain in Afghanistan.

Robert Courts: resettled under ACRS and ARAP have been dealt with on a case-by-case basis. Where this has happened, we have worked in close collaboration with social services and the relevant Local Authority. The Government provides a warm welcome to Afghans arriving in the UK and all guests are registered with a GP or are being helped to do so. A full range of vaccinations are offered, alongside mental health support and other services. We know just how much of an adjustment Afghan children and young people will be facing. Schools and colleges have access to a range of government support programmes to help children and young people with their mental health and we are rolling out Mental Health Support Teams that work with groups of schools and colleges to identify specialist needs of pupils in their areas.

Asylum: Questionnaires

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what support her Department provides for asylum claimants required to complete an Asylum Claim Questionnaire where (a) English is not their first language and (b) they are living with a mental health condition; and whether her Department has made an assessment of the impact on the mental health of claimants of the requirement to complete that Questionnaire within 20 working days, .

Robert Jenrick: The asylum claim questionnaires are in English as is generally the case for immigration paperwork across the Department. Claimants can utilise legal representatives, Non-Government Organisations and other support networks to help them respond to the questionnaire. All asylum seekers are entitled to legal representation to support them, including with translation, through Legal Aid.Throughout the asylum decision making process, we aim to ensure that vulnerable claimants are identified. That difficulties they may face in disclosing their experiences are given due consideration and that they are given help in accessing appropriate services. Extensions can be requested where the timeframe cannot be met, for example because of a mental health condition which is impacting their ability to respond to the questionnaire. This will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Spiking

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to help tackle the spiking of people in social places in the UK.

Miss Sarah Dines: The Home Office is leading the cross-government approach to understanding and tackling spiking in England and Wales. In 2021, the then Home Secretary asked the National Police Chief's Council to urgently review and coordinate the national policing response to spiking. Since then: Spiking has been incorporated into the Government's communications campaign to tackle violence against women and girls, known as 'ENOUGH'. This includes providing important information about the crime on the campaign website and signposting victims to support services.We have worked closely with the Festivals and Outdoor Events sector to ensure the safety of the public at summer events, ensuring that sufficient protocols, training, communications, and guidance was in place for event organisers, the police, security personnel and audiences.Government have supported Universities UK to provide guidance to universities on spiking published ahead of the Autumn 2022 term and the ‘freshers’ period. We provided further communications on spiking to local authorities and supported NPCC targeted communications.The Police have produced a forensic strategy and have worked with the forensic provider Eurofins to develop an accredited, rapid testing capability, enabling law enforcement to better support victims, and also build our understanding of what drugs are being used and how common they are. The Home Office has provided £70,000 in additional funding to enable the police to submit an additional 200 samples through the accredited process. This is just a snapshot of action being taken to address spiking and the Home Secretary will be publishing a report on the nature and prevalence of spiking, and action that government has taken, and will take, to tackle it. This report is now expected to be published following the May local elections.

Domestic Abuse

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to encourage people to report domestic violence against women.

Miss Sarah Dines: Domestic abuse is a horrific crime and improving the response to domestic abuse is a key priority. As highlighted in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan 2022, we want to make it easier for victims to ask for help and report crimes. It is important that victims know domestic abuse will be taken seriously. Significant progress has been made by the National Police Chiefs Council and College of Policing since the 2021 HMICFRS report on policing of VAWG, including a Framework standardising a policing focus on prevention, action to pursue perpetrators and help build women’s trust in policing.To further strengthen the police response to disclosures of domestic abuse, we have committed up to £3.3 million up to 2025 to bolster and encourage the uptake of the Domestic Abuse Matters training in police forces. And VAWG (including domestic abuse) has been added to the Strategic Policing Requirement (SPR), meaning it is set out as a national threat for forces to respond to alongside other threats such as terrorism, serious and organised crime and child sexual abuse.To make it easier for victims to ask for help in their local communities, we are now piloting the Ask for ANI (Action Needed Immediately) codeword scheme in 18 Jobcentres across the UK. The scheme has been available in participating pharmacies since January 2021. A postcode checker has been published on GOV.UK where victims can check for their nearest Ask for ANI location.

Immigration

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who have applied for indefinite leave to remain after completing the 10-year route based on their family or private life, since 2012.

Robert Jenrick: The data requested is not available in a reportable format.

Immigration

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who are expected to apply for indefinite leave to remain after completing the 10-year route based on their family or private life in the next five years.

Robert Jenrick: The data requested is not available in a reportable format.

Immigration

Stuart C McDonald: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who have applied for indefinite leave to remain after completing the 10-year route based on their family or private life since 2012.

Robert Jenrick: The data requested is not available in a reportable format.

Immigration

Christina Rees: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an estimate of the number of people who are expected to apply for indefinite leave to remain after completing the ten-year route based on their family or private life in the next five years.

Robert Jenrick: The data requested is not available in a reportable format.

Animal Experiments: Licensing

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many project licences were granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 that involved the use of the Forced Swim Test in each year since 2018.

Tom Tugendhat: The number of project licences granted under the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 that authorised the use of the Forced Swim Test in each year since 2018 are as follows:YearNumber of project licences granted 20188201911202042021020220

Department of Health and Social Care

Social Services: Career Development

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to develop a career structure for social care staff.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Staff

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that social care capacity is covered in his workforce plan.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Services: Standards

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the capacity of the social care sector to (a) support hospital discharges and (b) provide transitional care.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of people waiting for community musculoskeletal services were provided with an appointment within (a) four and (b) 12 weeks of referral in the past year.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Home Care Services: Pay

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of paying home care workers by the minute on workforce retention and staff morale.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Home Care Services: Pay

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to paragraph 205 of the third report of the Health and Social Care Committee entitled Workforce: recruitment, training and retention in health and social care, published on 25 July 2022, HC 115, what progress he has made on ensuring that the home care workforce receives at least minimum wage including travel time.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Home Care Services: Care Workers

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of paying home care workers by the minute on the quality of care provided by that workforce.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Allergies

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to (a) prevent, (b) improve treatment for and (c) promote awareness of allergies.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Workers

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department collects on the caseloads of social care workers in each local authority.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Workers: Vacancies

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of trends in the level of needs of social care workers in each local authority.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Workers: Vacancies

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department collects on the provision of social care workers compared to the population of local authorities.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Social Workers: Vacancies

Tony Lloyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what information his Department routinely collects on shortages of social care workers in each local authority.

Helen Whately: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many Yellow Card reports citing (a) immune thrombocytopenia and (b) low platelet counts as possible adverse effects from covid-19 vaccinations were received by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in (a) January, (b) February and (c) March 2021.

Maria Caulfield: The Department of Health and Social Care has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Neurology: Diagnosis and Medical Treatments

Sara Britcliffe: What steps his Department is taking to improve the diagnosis and treatment of functional neurological disorders.

Helen Whately: The Government is committed to ensuring those with all neurological conditions, including functional neurological disorders, have access to appropriate treatment and services. In February 2023 the National Neurosciences Advisory Group published its Optimal Clinical Pathway on functional neurological disorders (FND), developed by the neurological community with the support of NHS England. The pathway sets out what good treatment, care and support looks like for patients with FND, including the importance of timely and effective diagnosis.

Prescription Drugs

Dave Doogan: What steps he is taking to help ensure the affordability of prescription medicines.

Neil O'Brien: About nine out of ten prescription items are free on the NHS in England due to a range of prescription charge exemptions. These cover children, pregnant women, those over 60, people on certain income related benefits or whose partner is in receipt of those benefits – as well as those with specific medical conditions.On top of that, people on a low income can apply for support through the NHS Low Income Scheme, and all patients can also buy a pre-payment certificate which covers all the items they need for just over £2 per week.

Mental Health Services: Schools

Dr Luke Evans: What discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Education on encouraging schools to appoint mental health leads.

Steve Barclay: There are 399 operational Mental Health Support Teams now in place, supporting over 3 million children and young people. That means we have already achieved our 35% coverage target, 8 months ahead of schedule. I am planning to deliver an additional 101 teams by spring 2024 taking us to 500. The NIHR – who undertook a review of the programme – found that 77% of children and young people surveyed saw positive improvements in their mental health and wellbeing. We have also set an ambition for all state schools and colleges to train a senior mental health lead by 2025-26 in 10 state-funded secondary schools in England now have a dedicated mental health lead. I am thankful to the support of the Department for Education in supporting this rollout.

NHS: Pay

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of funding the NHS pay awards through the public health grant on the availability of funds for public health programmes.

Neil O'Brien: For the 2023/24 pay offer announced on 16 March 2023, the Department has already made funding available for up to 3.5% for pay in 2023/24 in its existing budgets. The Department is working with the Treasury to ensure it has the money it needs to fully fund this pay offer, which will include additional funding, looking across Departmental budgets and wider public spending.

Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access

Anne Marie Morris: What recent assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to the Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing Access rebate on foreign direct investment into the British Pharmaceutical Industry.

Will Quince: We have been working directly with industry to understand the impact of changes to VPAS on investments into the UK life sciences sector. We remain firmly committed to VPAS and to working with the pharmaceutical industry to create an environment that facilitates innovation for the development of medicines in the UK.

Psychology

Derek Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of introducing regulations for the professional use of the title psychologist.

Will Quince: In the United Kingdom, practitioner psychologists are already subject to statutory regulation by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), and HCPC’s legislation protects nine designated psychologist professional titles in law. This means that anyone not registered with the HCPC as a practitioner psychologist who uses one of these designated titles may be breaking the law and could be prosecuted.The Government keeps the professions subject to statutory regulation under review and recently published a consultation, ‘Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate’. The consultation ran from 6 January to 31 March 2022 and sought views on the criteria that should be used to determine when statutory regulation of a healthcare profession is appropriate.Officials are currently analysing the responses to this consultation and the Government will publish its response in due course.

Hospitals: Construction

Dame Diana Johnson: What his Department’s (a) budget and (b) timetable is for the delivery of 40 new hospitals under the hospital building programme.

Will Quince: The Government is committed to building 40 new hospitals. Two of the hospitals are open to patients and five are in construction.We have confirmed an initial £3.7 billion for the first four years of the New Hospital Programme. Further funding for the programme will be set out at future Spending Reviews.The Programme’s approach to standardising construction will drive efficiencies ensuring value for money and cutting-edge facilities for staff and patients.

Dentistry: Migrant Workers

Peter Aldous: What steps he is taking to facilitate overseas dentists practising in the UK.

Neil O'Brien: We have just passed legislation that enables the General Dental Council to increase the capacity of the Overseas Registration Exam and improve their registration processes We have also made it easier for overseas dentists to start working in the NHS. As of a few weeks ago, Saturday 1 April, no dentist will need to pay an application fee to NHS England to provide NHS services. We want to radically reduce the time that people spend going through Performers List Validation by Experience (PLVE) and plan to set out further steps in our forthcoming dentistry plan.

NHS: Chronic Illnesses

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support members of the NHS workforce affected by long-term illness.

Will Quince: NHS England have developed a range of support for National Health Service staff who are suffering from long-term illness, including access to Occupational Health and Wellbeing services, local Employee Assistance programmes and a range of health and wellbeing offers through the national support programme.NHS England have published a ‘Growing Occupational Health and Wellbeing Together’ strategy. The strategy sets out a roadmap for the NHS and partner organisations to work together to develop and invest in Occupational health and wellbeing services for NHS staff over the next five years.NHS Employers have also published a range of guidance for managers on how to support employees with long-term health conditions, which is available at the following link:https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/long-term-health-conditions

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether the criteria used by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to assess the safety of vaccines includes a threshold number or proportion of reports of (a) immune thrombocytopenia and (b) other adverse effects.

Will Quince: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continually monitors safety during use of all medicinal products, including vaccines. For COVID-19 vaccines the MHRA implemented a proactive strategy which included prospective safety data collection and use of a range of United Kingdom and international data sources and methodologies. For all products and events each data source is assessed based on its strengths and limitations using appropriate methodologies and statistical thresholds for those data.The numbers and types of suspected adverse events vary between medicinal products and cannot be used to compare safety profiles as many factors can influence adverse drug reaction reporting such as the extent of use of a product. The MHRA works closely with public health partners in reviewing the effectiveness and impact of the vaccines to ensure the benefits continue to outweigh any possible side effects.

General Practitioners: Northern Ireland

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has had discussions with the Department of Health NI on doctors in that country returning to full-time face-to-face appointments.

Will Quince: Health is devolved in Northern Ireland and this is therefore a matter for the devolved administration.

Health Services: Children and Young People

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce treatment waiting times for children and young people.

Will Quince: In February 2022, the National Health Service published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and reduce waiting times for elective services including treatment for children and young people.Steps being taken include increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector, and engaging with patients to understand their choices.To support this recovery the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 and an additional £5.9 billion investment in capital for new beds, equipment and technology.Additionally, the NHS Long Term plan commits to increase investment into mental health services by at least £2.3 billion a year by 2023/24. Part of this increased investment will enable an additional 345,000 children and young people to access NHS funded mental health support.In September 2022 we also announced ‘our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care, including access for children and young people.

Health Services: Children

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to reduce elective procedure backlogs in child health services.

Will Quince: In February 2022, the National Health Service published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and reduce waiting times for elective services, including elective procedures in child health services.Steps being taken include increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector, and engaging with patients to understand their choices.To support this recovery the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available to systems in 2021/22 to help drive up and protect elective activity.Having virtually met our target to eliminate long waits of two years or more for elective procedures in July, we have also made significant progress in tackling waits of 78 weeks or more for elective procedures in child health services. NHS England will soon publish statistics that demonstrate what has been achieved to date.

Health Services: Children

Holly Mumby-Croft: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps his Department has taken to reduce elective surgery treatment waiting times for children.

Will Quince: In February 2022, the National Health Service published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and reduce waiting times for elective services including elective surgery for children and young people.Steps being taken include increasing capacity, seeking alternate capacity in other trusts or the independent sector, and engaging with patients to understand their choices.To support this recovery the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available to systems in 2021/22 to help drive up and protect elective activity.Having virtually met our target to eliminate long waits of two years or more for elective procedures in July, we have also made significant progress in tackling waits of 78 weeks or more for elective services including elective surgery for children. NHS England will soon publish statistics that demonstrate what has been achieved to date.

Health Services

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the guidance entitled Working definition of trauma-informed practice, published by his Department on 2 November 2022, what recent progress his Department has made on developing the evidence base for the use of trauma-informed practice in different settings; and if he will make a statement.

Neil O'Brien: The Department published and disseminated a working definition of trauma-informed practice for the health and care sector. The Home Office is also funding an evaluation of trauma-informed practice, to establish what impact it could have in diverting children and young people from becoming involved in serious violence and crime.The Department has also commissioned a Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) Toolkit which will detail the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different types of VAWG interventions. This will be a valuable tool for integrated care boards in commissioning services and will promote evidence-based approaches to supporting victims and tackling violence.NHS England has established a Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Programme to lead work to support victims of domestic abuse and tackle sexual violence.

Air Pollution: Death

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the difference is between attributable deaths referring to air pollution and deaths reported on death certificates.

Maria Caulfield: Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to contribute to the risk of dying from certain conditions. The annual number of ‘attributable deaths’ associated with long-term average concentrations of pollutants is not an estimate of the number of people whose untimely death is caused entirely by air pollution. Instead, it is a way of representing the effect of air pollution across the whole population.Causes of death on death certificates record the sequence of medical conditions and relevant events leading to, or contributing to, the death, based on the deceased's healthcare records and other available information, such as laboratory tests or post-mortem investigation. Generally, it is unusual for wider risk factors, such as exposure to air pollution, to be recorded among causes of death.

Air Pollution: Ventilation

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will publish a list of currently applicable regulations and guidance used by his Department on ventilation and indoor air quality that still refers to withdrawn technical standards such as EN 13779:2007.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is not able to comment on technical standards, such as EN13779:2007. We note that EN13779:2007 has been replaced by BS EN16798-1:2019. BS EN 16798-1:2019 provides a method for designing ventilation rates to dilute individual substances. It provides default design carbon dioxide concentrations above outdoor concentrations which are consistent with international regulations on ventilation, as identified by UKHSA work.

Air Pollution: Statistics

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the difference is between (a) emissions, (b) concentrations, (c) human exposures, (d) health impacts and (e) death outcomes when referring to air pollution in health statistics.

Maria Caulfield: When referring to air pollution in health statistics, emissions is the term used to describe the gases and particles that are released into the air or emitted by various sources, for example road transport. The concentration of a specific air pollutant is the amount of material per unit volume of air. Concentrations are most commonly expressed as mass per unit volume (for example, micrograms per cubic meter, µg/m3). Human exposure refers to any contact between an airborne contaminant and a surface of the human body, either outer, for example the skin, or inner, for example the respiratory tract. Health impacts are negative changes in health resulting from exposure to a source of pollution, such as exacerbation of asthma, increases in respiratory and cardiovascular hospital admissions and mortality.

Air Pollution: Greater London

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of all adult deaths in (a) Enfield and (b) London were from (i) heart disease, (ii) stroke, (iii) chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, (iv) lung cancer and (v) dementia and Alzheimer's disease and attributed to air pollution in 2019.

Maria Caulfield: The UK Health Security Agency has not calculated the proportion of adult deaths related to the listed health outcomes in Enfield and London. The fraction of mortality attributable to particulate air pollution, measured as fine particulate matter, PM2.5, for 2019 for both Enfield and London was 8.8%. The numbers of attributable deaths are not calculated, the value provided represents the percentage of annual deaths from all causes in those aged 30 years old and older.

Air Pollution: Death

Geraint Davies: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether attributable deaths is an alternative term used for premature deaths when referring to deaths caused by air pollution.

Maria Caulfield: Long-term exposure to air pollution is understood to contribute to the risk of dying from certain conditions. The annual number of attributable deaths associated with long-term average concentrations of pollutants is not an estimate of the number of people whose untimely death is caused entirely by air pollution. Instead, it is a way of representing the effect of air pollution across the whole population.In public health, ‘premature deaths’ is usually used to refer to deaths that occur before the average age of death in a population, before the age of 75 years old. This is not the same as ‘attributable deaths’, which represent the total mortality effect across the whole population, including those over 75 years old. It is likely that deaths attributable to air pollution will be disproportionately influenced by deaths at older ages, such as from cardiovascular and respiratory disease.

Coronavirus: Surveys

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Office for National Statistics’ surveillance of covid-19 infection rates has been paused.

Maria Caulfield: The approach to COVID-19 surveillance is being actively reviewed to ensure it is proportionate, cost effective and considered alongside how we monitor a range of other infectious diseases that present a similar threat. The UK Health Security Agency will continue to publish regular reports on COVID-19 which will contribute to our situational awareness. These include our weekly surveillance reports, which provide data on infection rates and hospitalisation numbers. We also maintain the ability to track the latest variants through our genomics capabilities which assess the risks posed by different strains of the virus.

Orthopaedics: Health Professions

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to expand the orthopaedic workforce.

Will Quince: Growing and supporting the workforce is a priority for this Government. To that end, we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long Term Workforce Plan. This will include projections for the numbers of doctors, nurses and other key professionals required over the next five, 10 and 15 years. The plan will cover all of the National Health Service workforce, including those working on orthopaedic services.

Medical Treatments: Private Sector

Sir George Howarth: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many treatments the NHS hospitals conducted on private patients in (a) 2019-20, (b) 2020-21 and (c) 2021-22.

Will Quince: A count of Finished Admission Episodes where a private patient was treated at a National Health Service hospital, from 2019/20 to 2021/22 is shown below:YearAll AdmissionsPrivate Patient Admissions2019/2016,567,19293,5912020/2112,426,11143,6662021/2215,353,23180,136 A count of attended outpatient appointments where a private patient was treated at a NHS hospital, from 2019/20 to 2021/22 is shown below:YearAll AttendancesPrivate Patient Attendances2019/2090,873,170401,8772020/2174,941,744249,9572021/2290,596,976364,662

Breast Cancer: Drugs

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to speed up the drug approval process for new metastatic breast cancer treatments.

Will Quince: The Government is committed to supporting timely patient access to clinically- and cost-effective new drugs, including for metastatic breast cancer.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England are working closely together to ensure that there is a joined-up, timely approach to supporting access to new medicines for National Health Service patients, including those licensed through Project Orbis and the Innovative Licensing and Access Pathway. NICE is also able to make recommendations through the cancer drugs fund (CDF), which has benefitted over 88,000 patients as of March 2023. The CDF has allowed patients with metastatic breast cancer to access new medicines like trastuzumab, deruxtecan and palbociclib, while allowing for the collection of further data on their clinical- and cost-effectiveness to inform a final NICE recommendation.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 April 2023 to Question 176541 on Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus, which safety concerns relating to covid-19 vaccines have been the subject of advice for (a) healthcare professionals and (b) patients since January 2021.

Maria Caulfield: The United Kingdom Health Security Agency (UKHSA) publishes a range of resources to support healthcare professionals delivering the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Information on vaccine safety is available in the green book (chapter 14a), the primary professional source of guidance for front line immunisers, available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-the-green-book-chapter-14aiInformation on adverse events is available at the following links:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-programme-guidance-for-healthcare-practitionershttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/covid-19-vaccination-and-rare-side-effectsUKHSA also produces patient information leaflets, which include information on rare side effects following vaccination. ‘What to expect after your COVID-19 vaccine’ is available at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-vaccination-what-to-expect-after-vaccinationVaccine safety remains at the forefront of the COVID-19 vaccine programme. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is responsible for monitoring the safety of all COVID-19 vaccines approved in the United Kingdom.

Hyoscine Hydrobromide: Health Hazards

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessments of the health implications of the drug Scopolamine.

Will Quince: The health impacts of Scopolamine (known as hyoscine in the United Kingdom) are kept under review by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). In 2003 the Committee on Human Medicines considered the balance of benefits and risks of hyoscine butylbromide and concluded that it continues to be acceptable in both parenteral and oral preparations.In 2017, following a review of a number of case reports with hyoscine butylbromide given by injection, the MHRA published updated prescribing information to help minimise the risk of serious adverse effects in patients with underlying cardiac disease. Product labelling for a hyoscine butylbromide injection was also updated at this time. Patient Safety is the top priority and the MHRA is currently considering available evidence relating to labelling of side effects associated with hyoscine hydrobromide patches. Any new advice for patients or healthcare professionals will be communicated once this review is complete.

Dental Services: Hospitals

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many adults were admitted to hospital for tooth decay extractions in (a) Kingston Upon Hull North, (b) Humber and North Yorkshire and (c) England in the last (i) three, (ii) six, (iii) 12 and (iv) 24 months.

Neil O'Brien: This following table shows data, collected by NHS England, of the numbers of hospital episodes of extractions in adults in England in the last three, six, 12 and 24 months. The number of hospital episodes is not necessarily the same as the number of patients, as some patients may have multiple admissions in any period. PeriodKingston Upon Hull NorthNorth Yorkshire and HumbersideEnglandLast three months (December 2022 to February 2023)253107,255Last six months (September 2022 to February 2023)6576015,626Last 12 months (March 2022 to February 2023)1151,48031,616Last 24 months (March 2021 to February 2023)2052,63061,000 Source: Hospital Episode Statistics, NHS England

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2023 to Question 152184, Coronavirus: Vaccination, for what reason his Department has not responded to the Regulation 28 report; and when he plans to respond.

Maria Caulfield: We apologise for the delay in replying to the Coroner. A reply will be sent as a matter of urgency.

Dental Services: Yorkshire and the Humber

Dame Diana Johnson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment his Department has made of the adequacy of the provision of dental services in (a) Kingston Upon Hull North constituency and (b) the areas covered by (i) Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust and (ii) Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care System.

Neil O'Brien: From 1 April 2023, the responsibility for commissioning primary care dentistry to meet the needs of the local population has been delegated to integrated care boards (ICBs) across England. NHS England has published an Assurance Framework which sets out its approach to providing assurance that commissioning functions are carried out safely and effectively by ICBs.In September 2022, we announced ‘Our plan for patients’, which outlines how we will meet oral health needs and increase access to dental care across England. These will increase access to National Health Service dentistry whilst making the NHS dental contract more attractive to dental practices. The changes we have implemented include a contractual requirement for NHS dentists to keep their NHS.UK profiles up to date to make it easier for patients to seek treatment; and enabling practices to over-deliver on their NHS contract to deliver more NHS care.We are working on further reforms which will be announced later this year.

Parkinson's Disease: Newcastle upon Tyne Central

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent steps her Department has taken to support the mental health of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s in Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency.

Helen Whately: The National Health Service recognises that two-thirds of people with a common mental health problem also have a long term physical health problem, and that integrating talking and psychological therapy services with physical health services can provide better support and achieve better outcomes. All local commissioners are expected to commission NHS talking therapies integrated into physical healthcare pathways. To support the mental health of people diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has a movement disorders multi-disciplinary team covering Parkinson’s, which discusses patients’ mental health needs.

Parkinson's Disease: North East

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to (a) reduce waiting times for a Parkinson’s diagnosis and (b) increase the number of Parkinson’s specialists in (i) Newcastle upon Tyne Central constituency and (ii) the North East.

Helen Whately: In February 2022 the National Health Service published a delivery plan setting out a clear vision for how the NHS will recover and reduce waiting times for elective services, including prioritising diagnosis and treatment. To support this recovery, the Government plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25, in addition to the £2 billion Elective Recovery Fund and £700 million Targeted Investment Fund already made available to systems in 2021/22 to help drive up and protect elective activity. The Government has commissioned NHS England to develop a long-term plan for the NHS workforce for the next 15 years. The plan, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years, taking full account of improvements in retention and productivity, is due to be published shortly. Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has recently appointed an additional Neurology Specialist Nurse into its Parkinson’s Team.

Dermatology: Merseyside

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what percentage of dermatology patients started treatment within 18 weeks of referral in (a) Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (b) the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board area and (c) England in February 2023.

Helen Whately: The percentage of dermatology patients starting treatment within 18 weeks of referral in February 2023 in Liverpool University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust was 61.28%, in the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board area 57.75%, and in England 69.53%.

Breast Cancer: Health Services

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he is taking steps to ensure awareness of metastatic breast cancer among NHS staff involved in primary care.

Helen Whately: In April 2020, NHS England introduced the 'early cancer diagnosis service specification' for Primary Care Networks (PCNs), which 99% of general practices (GPs) are signed up to. This is designed to support improvements in rates of early cancer diagnosis by requiring PCNs to review the quality of their practices’ referrals for suspected cancer and take steps to improve this.NHS England is supporting GPs to diagnose more cancers early by making funding available to embed clinical decision support tools within general practice. These tools are designed to support GPs in clinical decision making, such as whether to refer or request further diagnostic investigation in patients where they believe there is a risk of cancer, and identifying patients who may be at risk of cancer based on the symptoms they present with.Cancer education programmes such as ‘Gateway C’ are available online and include specific courses on breast cancer, and face-to-face education sessions have now resumed and are offered by a range of providers.

Members: Correspondence

Theresa Villiers: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to respond to the correspondence from the Rt hon. Member for Chipping Barnet of 22 August, 7 October and 22 October 2022 on a request for a meeting to discuss the establishment of a dedicated three-digit mental health emergency hotline.

Maria Caulfield: I have received the correspondence from the Rt. hon. Member and will be in contact to arrange a meeting with the Rt. hon. Member as well as her constituents and representatives from the Calzy Foundation.

Community Diagnostic Centres

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the press release entitled Government turbocharges efforts to tackle COVID-19 backlogs, published on 7 December 2022, whether he is using additional metrics, as well as the stated ambition for 40 per cent of diagnoses to take place in community diagnostic centres by 2025, to monitor the effectiveness of those centres.

Helen Whately: NHS England is responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of Community Diagnostic Centres and uses a range of metrics. These are included as part of the monthly Diagnostics Data collection, which is available at the following link:https://www.england.nhs.uk/statistics/statistical-work-areas/diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-waiting-times-and-activity/monthly-diagnostics-data-2022-23/

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many applications have been (a) received and (b) decided for mandatory reversals of Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme decisions relating to covid-19 vaccinations; and what the maximum time period is for those applications to be decided upon.

Maria Caulfield: 127 applications for mandatory reversals have been received as of 20 April 2023. The number of decisions reached on these applications is under five and therefore cannot be provided as the exact number may make individual claimants identifiable in the public domain. Whilst there is no maximum time period for the assessment of mandatory reversals, they usually take around six months, due to the need to gather updated medical records. This can vary from case to case, however, depending on the individual circumstances of each claim.There is no limit on the number of times a reversal can be requested and no time limit on making such a request.

Musculoskeletal Disorders: Health Services

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has taken recent steps to implement the recommendations of the report by NHS England entitled An improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience, published on 10 January 2023.

Helen Whately: Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) are responsible for commissioning musculoskeletal services for their local populations. The NHS England report ‘An improvement framework to reduce community musculoskeletal waits while delivering best outcomes and experience’ supports ICSs, which are responsible for delivering support, to improve access to commissioned musculoskeletal therapies services. It includes defining principles and recommended actions across primary, community and secondary care and further resources which should support and enable local leadership to adapt and adopt the recommended actions.

Coronavirus: Vaccination

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many cases of covid-19 vaccine-induced thrombosis and thrombocytopenia were reported to Public Health England using the reporting link contained within the 7 April 2021 Guidance from the Expert Haematology Panel; and how many of these reports related to events that took place before April 2021.

Maria Caulfield: This data collection was established to support the work of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. Whilst information on reported cases of COVID-19 vaccine induced thrombosis and thrombocytopaenia was collected by Public Health England, reporting was not mandatory or part of an official surveillance system and the data are not centrally validated.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many people are employed in the NHS Business Services Authority's quality assurance processes for reviewing Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme claims relating to covid-19 vaccinations; and how many claims initially recommended for acceptance have been overturned as a result of those processes.

Maria Caulfield: NHS Business Services Authority (NHSBSA) employs a number of clinical specialists to quality audit a sample of vaccine damage payment scheme assessment reports prepared by the independent medical assessment supplier. We are not able to disclose the exact number of clinicians currently employed by the NHSBSA to carry out these assessments, because the total number falls below five and clinicians could be identified when combined with other information that may be in the public domain or reasonably available.The purpose of the quality audit undertaken by NHSBSA’s clinical specialists is to check that the independent medical assessor has followed guidance and available scientific evidence in a way that is consistent and fair. The clinicians may request that the independent medical assessor provides clarification of points raised within a report before a claim outcome is finalised. However, the NHSBSA does not overturn decisions.

Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme: Coronavirus

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the (a) minimum and (b) maximum period is after the administration of a covid-19 vaccine at which the level of disability caused by that vaccine can be assessed for the purposes of a payment under the Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.

Sir Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what account his Department takes of (a) actual and (b) potential changes in the level of disability when deciding whether the 60 per cent disablement threshold has been met for the purposes of Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme.

Maria Caulfield: There is no minimum or maximum period after the administration of any vaccine at which the level of disability caused by that vaccine can be assessed for the purposes of a payment under the vaccine damage payment scheme (VDPS), although claims must be made on or before the date on which the disabled person turns 21 years old, or six years on from the date of the vaccination, whichever is later. The VDPS assessment of disablement looks across the whole period during which the claimant has suffered and is expected to suffer, based on all the medical evidence available, not just disablement at a particular point in time. This means that in some cases, even where there have been serious short-term symptoms, over the whole assessment period it may be that the disablement does not meet the 60% threshold.

IVF: LGBT People

Dr Jamie Wallis: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to ensure equal access to IVF for LGBTQ+ couples.

Maria Caulfield: Funding decisions for health services in England, including IVF, are made by integrated care boards and are based on the clinical needs of their local population.We published the first Women’s Health Strategy on 20 July 2022, which contained a number of important changes and future ambitions to improve the variations in access to National Health Service-funded fertility services. This includes improving access to IVF for female same-sex couples by removing the additional financial burden they face when accessing treatment. We expect this to take effect during 2023.

Care Workers: Recruitment

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps is he taking to ensure effective (a) recruitment and (b) retention in the social care sector.

Helen Whately: On 4 April, we published our plans for investing £250 million in workforce reforms to improve career progression and access to learning and development opportunities to help reduce turnover.In February 2022, we made care workers eligible for the Health and Care Visa and added them to the Shortage Occupation list. There were 56,900 visa grants for care workers and senior care workers in 2022. We are also investing £15 million to help local areas establish support arrangements for international recruitment in adult social care.

Abortion: Clinics

Scott Benton: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of immediate closure of abortion clinics that fail to ensure proper safety procedures are in place for under 16 year olds.

Maria Caulfield: There are no plans to change the existing systems in place to ensure that under 16 year olds receive safe, age appropriate abortion care. All independent sector services wishing to perform termination of pregnancy must be approved by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and be registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) before they are able to provide abortion services. The CQC inspect independent sector abortion services. If a CQC inspection identifies instances of non-compliance, then appropriate regulatory action will be taken.The Department expects all abortion providers to have due regard to the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health national guidance on safeguarding under 18 year olds accessing early medical abortion services, which will ensure that robust safeguarding processes are embedded across all abortion services. This guidance is available at the following link:https://childprotection.rcpch.ac.uk/resources/safeguarding-guidance-for-children-and-young-people-under-18-accessing-early-medical-abortion-services/

Disability: Health Services

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to ensure adequate funding for high quality, safe and effective care for disabled people.

Helen Whately: The Government is committed to ensuring disabled people receive high quality, safe and effective care to meet their needs. We are investing an additional £3.3 billion in each of 2023/24 and 2024/25 to support NHS England.Further to this, the Government is making available up to £7.5 billion in additional funding over two years to support adult social care and discharge, with up to £2.8 billion available in 2023/24 and up to £4.7 billion in 2024/25. This historic funding boost will put the adult social care system on a stronger financial footing and help local authorities address waiting lists, low fee rates, and workforce pressures in the sector.

NHS: Public Appointments

Mary Kelly Foy: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of appointing a national allergy lead.

Helen Whately: The Government has no plans to appoint a national allergy lead.

Cosmetics: Ethnic Groups

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the implications for his policies on breast cancer of research linking lye hair product usage and breast cancer incidence amongst black women.

Helen Whately: No assessment has been made.

Social Services: Carers

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the document Next steps to put People at the Heart of Care: A plan for adult social care system reform 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025, published on 4 April 2023, whether the planned CQC assessment of local authorities’ adult social care delivery will include Carer’s Assessments; and if he will make a statement.

Helen Whately: The Health and Care Act 2022 places a new duty on the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to assess the performance of local authorities’ delivery of their adult social care duties under the Care Act 2014, including those related to unpaid carers. This duty commenced on 1 April 2023. CQC assessment will increase transparency and accountability, allowing the public and the Government to better understand how well local authorities are delivering their adult social care services.CQC assessment will consider how local authorities assess needs, this will include carers’ assessments. CQC assessment of local authorities will show to what extent the needs of unpaid carers are recognised as distinct from the person with care needs and if assessments for unpaid carers are undertaken separately from those who draw on care and support.This Government is fully committed to the 10-year vision for adult social care set out in the People at the Heart of Care white paper. We want care to be of outstanding quality, personalised and accessible.Building on the £100 million we have invested in the past year, we have now set out our plans for the next stage of social care reform and improvement. This includes £700 million to reform the social care system.I wrote to all MPs in England on 5 April 2023 outlining the recent Next Steps announcement and launch of CQC assessment.

Prostate Cancer

Nick Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department has taken to increase (a) rates of early detection and (b) diagnostic times for prostate cancer in the last 12 months.

Helen Whately: The Department is working with NHS England to improve early detection and diagnosis of prostate cancer. To increase rates of early detection for prostate cancer, NHS England is redesigning pathways to maximise capacity. In October 2022 NHS England published ‘Best Practice Timed Pathway’ for suspected prostate cancer. This guidance sets out how diagnosis can be achieved within 28 days for the suspected prostate cancer pathway. The guidance includes using a magnetic resonance imaging first strategy to reduce biopsy and move necessary biopsies from theatre into clinic. NHS England and NHS Improvement introduced a new financial incentive for 2022/23 through the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation scheme to support the delivery of the pathway.

Incontinence

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what progress has been made in monitoring the implementation of the Excellence in Continence Care Guidelines.

Andrew Selous: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to commission a new Continence Care Audit.

Helen Whately: NHS England does not monitor the implementation of the Excellence in Continence Care Guidelines. NHS England will consider next steps on Excellence in Continence Care through its National Bladder and Bowel Health Project and will report shortly. NHS England does not currently have any plans to commission a new Continence Care Audit.

Social Services: Digital Technology

Julian Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how much funding his Department has allocated to projects intended to help speed up digitisation in the social care sector in each of the last three financial years.

Helen Whately: In December 2021, the Government announced plans to invest at least £150 million to digitise adult social care. We have made good progress so far with care provider usage of digital social care records increasing by more than 10 percentage points from a starting point of 40%.In financial year 2022/23, we invested £47.5 million to support digitisation and improve cyber resilience in the sector. In financial year 2021/2022, we invested around £13.3 million to pilot care technologies and to test our delivery model. Prior to the 2021 spending review settlement, from 2016-2021 NHS Digital, funded by the Department, invested £22.8 million in social care digitisation as part of its Social Care Programme. A further £1.1 million was spent by the Department in 2020/21.

Diabetes

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to reduce cases of type 2 diabetes.

Helen Whately: The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme operates to identify people who are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and refers them onto a nine-month, evidence-based lifestyle change programme. Latest figures in February 2023 shows a 20% reduction in risk for those who are referred to the programme compared to those who are not.Additionally, the National Health Service is delivering a low calorie diet programme for people who are overweight and living with type 2 diabetes.We have announced plans for a new Major Conditions Strategy to tackle conditions that contribute most to morbidity and mortality across the population in England which include cancers, cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes, chronic respiratory diseases, dementia, mental ill health and musculoskeletal conditions.

Breast Cancer: Clinical Trials

Holly Lynch: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to increase the number of metastatic breast cancer treatment clinical trials in view of the number of affected patients.

Will Quince: The Department does not typically ring-fence funds for specific topics or conditions. The National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) funds research on any aspect of human health, including metastatic breast cancer, subject to peer review and open competition. Awards are based on topic importance, value for money, and scientific quality.The Government's vision, Saving and Improving Lives, published in March 2021, outlines plans to increase clinical trials, including for metastatic breast cancer, in the 2022-2025 implementation plan, published June 2021. The Government also entered a 10 year partnership with Moderna, with substantial investment in United Kingdom based research and development, including cancer research. Additionally, Lord James O’Shaughnessy has been independently commissioned to review commercial clinical trials in the UK and plans are to publish recommendations for 2023 and longer-term ambitions for UK clinical trials this spring.

NHS: Staff

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to include a plan for the delivery of services outsourced from the NHS in his workforce plan.

Will Quince: To support the workforce as a whole we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long Term Workforce Plan, including projections for the numbers of health professionals required in the future. The Plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce. It will not provide detailed workforce assessments for individual services.

NHS: Pay

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will take steps to help ensure that staff on outsourced contracts from the NHS receive a cost of living pay increase.

Will Quince: Independent organisations of course remain free to develop and adopt the terms and conditions of employment, including pay, that best help them attract and keep the staff they need. It is open to National Health Service organisations to agree pay rates with the providers of their outsourced services. Commissioning arrangements for non NHS providers are a matter for integrated care board (ICB) to consider on a case by case basis. ICBs will make local decisions in response to the individual needs of providers.

Accident and Emergency Departments

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to support A&E departments in delivering essential services.

Will Quince: To support accident and emergency (A&E) departments in delivering essential services, NHS England has published the Delivery Plan for Recovering Urgent and Emergency Care Services, which aims to deliver one of the fastest and longest-sustained improvements in emergency waiting times in the National Health Service’s history. This includes bringing down A&E wait times significantly over the next year, and down towards pre-pandemic levels within two years.This plan will deliver 5,000 more staffed, permanent beds this year compared to 2022/23 plans, alongside 800 new ambulances, backed by £1 billion of dedicated funding.The plan also sets out making greater use of virtual wards, with an extra 3,000 virtual ward beds, to provide over 10,000 in total by this autumn.Same Day Emergency Care services will also be in place across every hospital with a major emergency department. This is alongside expanding and better joining up health and care outside hospital, including by scaling urgent community response, frailty and falls services across the whole country, helping to reduce attendances at A&E.

Dermatology: Nurses

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dermatology specialist nurses there are in (a) North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and (b) the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Will Quince: The Department does not hold the data requested.

Dermatology: Consultants

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many consultant dermatologists there are in (a) North Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust and (b) the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Will Quince: The following table shows the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) National Health Service consultant doctors working in the specialty of dermatology as of December 2022.OrganisationFTE DoctorsNorth Middlesex University Hospital NHS Trust0Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust13 Source: NHS England Workforce Statistics 2022

Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2023 to Question 161293 on Voluntary Scheme for Branded Medicines Pricing and Access, what evidence his Department has to support the statement that VPAS is driving significant improvements in patient access to clinically and cost-effective medicines; and what recent estimate he has made of the number of new medicines available in other countries that have (a) not been launched or (b) been delayed being introduced in the UK owing the NICE's work programme.

Will Quince: Commitments in the voluntary scheme for branded medicines pricing and access (VPAS) around access and uptake for innovative medicines have had a substantial positive impact on the speed of medicines access in England. VPAS commits the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) to publishing draft recommendations on all newly licensed treatments around the time of licensing, with final guidance within three months of licensing wherever possible. NICE works closely with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to ensure that licensing procedures and health technology assessments are as streamlined as possible. For example, average times between GB MA and NICE appraisal publication, for new medicines, have been reduced from 10.2 months for 2017/18 to 3.1 months for 2022/23. The proportion of positive NICE recommendations increased from 79% in 2017/18 to 92% in 2022/23.No estimate has been made of the number of new medicines available in other countries that may have been delayed or not launched in England owing to NICE’s work programme. However, a recent report from the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America found that, between 2012 and 2021, the United Kingdom was consistently in the top three G20 countries for availability and speed of access to new medicines. The National Health Service has delivered world-leading rollout of medicines such as cystic fibrosis triple-therapy, Kaftrio® and ‘5-min’ breast cancer combination PHESGO®, as well as delivering expected levels of uptake on all cancer drugs fund treatments.

Protective Clothing: China

Angela Rayner: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the cost to the public purse was of storing personal protective equipment in China in (a) December 2021 and (b) January 2022.

Will Quince: The cost to the public purse of storing personal protective equipment in China was approximately £2 million in December 2021, and approximately £1.9 million in January 2022.

NHS: Childcare

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the (a) availability and (b) cost of childcare on NHS staff's (i) working hours and (ii) ability to work full time.

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will require the NHS to conduct an annual audit of childcare requirements for its staff to help inform staffing rotas.

Will Quince: No specific assessment has been made of the potential impact of the availability and cost of childcare on National Health Service staff’s working hours or ability to work full time. We have no current plans to conduct an audit of childcare requirements to inform staffing rotas.Decisions on how to fill staffing rotas is an operational issue that sits with employers across the NHS. There is no central collection of information on childcare provision across the NHS. There is a mixed picture on provision with some healthcare providers providing in-house nurseries and others supporting staff in other ways through subsidies or voucher schemes. The recent announcement by the Chancellor of the extension of 30 hours of free childcare to those between nine months and five years old has been received positively.We know that the opportunity to work flexibly is important to many NHS staff and that this is central to enabling individuals to fulfil caring responsibilities, manage their work-life balance and maintain their own health and wellbeing. ‘We work flexibly’ is one element of the NHS People Promise, which the NHS is committed to delivering for staff by 2024/25, and staff have the right to request flexible working from day one without the need to provide a justification. NHS England have developed policies and principles to support the implementation of flexible working.

Diabetes: Ophthalmic Services

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will support research on the use of sleep masks to treat diabetic retinopathy.

Will Quince: The Department funds research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR does not normally ring-fence funding for specific disease areas but welcomes funding applications for research into any aspect of human health, including diabetic retinopathy.

NHS: Staff

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the NHS workforce strategy, what steps he is taking to establish how many (a) cardiologists, (b) cardiac nurses and (c) other specialists roles will be needed.

Will Quince: To support the workforce as a whole we have commissioned NHS England to develop a Long Term Workforce Plan, which will include independently verified forecasts for the number of healthcare professionals required in future years. The Plan is for the whole of the National Health Service workforce, including those working in cardiac care; it will not provide detailed workforce assessments for individual services.

NHS: Labour Turnover

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to improve retention of the NHS workforce.

Will Quince: Retention within the National Health Service is a complex issue and decisions to leave are taken for a multitude of reasons. The NHS People Plan and the People Promise focus on improving the retention of NHS staff by prioritising staff health and wellbeing. We have set out a comprehensive range of actions to improve staff retention which focus on creating a more modern, compassionate and inclusive NHS culture by strengthening health and wellbeing, equality and diversity, culture and leadership and flexible working.Building on this work, the NHS Retention Programme seeks to understand why staff leave, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst keeping them well. To bolster current support, each NHS organisation is prioritising the delivery of five high impact actions that will impact on early-career, experienced and late-career staff, improving the experience and retention of nursing and midwifery staff.

Coronavirus: Drugs and Medical Treatments

Fleur Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if his Department will take steps to (a) develop and (b) implement a rapid system of evaluating new protective and prophylactic Covid-19 drugs and treatments.

Will Quince: As we move out of the pandemic response, it is right that existing methods for understanding the clinical and cost-effectiveness of medicines are used to inform routine commissioning arrangements, including for new COVID-19 drugs and treatments.The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is the independent, expert body responsible for developing authoritative, evidence-based recommendations for the National Health Service on whether new medicines represent a clinically and cost-effective use of resources.As part of supporting this transition, NICE published final guidance on 29 March that recommends three medicines as options for treating COVID-19 in adults. Because new COVID-19 variants develop over time, NICE is also developing a new review process to update its recommendations on the clinical and cost-effectiveness of COVID-19 treatments, so they can be made available more quickly to patients if they show promise against new variants and are found to be cost-effective. A four-week public consultation on proposals for the new rapid update process was launched on 6 April.New medicines for COVID-19 that are referred to NICE by the Department will be evaluated through NICE’s technology appraisal process. NICE aims to publish guidance within 90 days of marketing authorisation (licensing) being issued by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency. NICE works with stakeholders to align its appraisal timelines with the regulatory process.

NHS: Staff

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, when he plans to publish the NHS workforce plan.

Will Quince: We have committed to publishing the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan shortly.

Junior Doctors: Labour Turnover

Kim Leadbeater: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps he is taking to (a) retain junior doctors in the NHS after their F1 and F2 training and (b) ensure there are enough core medical trainee positions available to retain junior doctors after their foundation training.

Will Quince: The Government is delivering a range of initiatives to support the retention and wellbeing of junior doctors in the National Health Service, for example through the Enhancing Junior Doctors’ Working Lives programme led by NHS England. In addition, the NHS Retention Programme, also led by NHS England is working to understand why staff, including junior doctors, are leaving, resulting in targeted interventions to support staff to stay whilst supporting their health and wellbeing. The Government has also taken action to increase the number of speciality training places, include core positions. For those who applied to begin training in 2022, Health Education England (HEE) invested in more than 750 additional training posts across all speciality programmes, including core positions. In January this year, HEE announced that nearly 900 additional medical specialty training posts have been created for this year.

Dermatology: Nurses

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many dermatology specialist nurses there are in (a) Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (b) the NHS Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board area and (c) England.

Will Quince: The Department does not hold the data requested.

Hospitals: Shropshire

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the impact of the Hospitals Transformation Programme on ambulance delays for heart attack and stroke patients in Shropshire.

Will Quince: Plans for the Hospitals Transformation Programme will provide a new consolidated Emergency Department at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital. Cardiology and acute stroke services will be co-located with the Emergency Department, ensuring immediate access to relevant specialties. As set out in the ‘Transforming the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital and Princess Royal Hospital: Strategic Outline Case’, the Trust expects this change to significantly reduce delayed ambulance handovers. As now, patients indicating an acute heart attack will continue to be taken to the specialist heart attack centres at New Cross Hospital (Wolverhampton) and Royal Stoke Hospital.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will conduct a review into (a) the adequacy of the level of public understanding of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency's Yellow Card reporting system and (b) any changes needed to help increase public understanding of that reporting system.

Will Quince: The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) recognises the importance of public understanding of and access to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, so that any member of the public is able to promptly report any concerns they have about the safety of healthcare products. The MHRA monitors the number of reports it receives from members of the public and strives to keep improving the public understanding of the reporting system. The MHRA continually works to encourage reporting of any safety concerns to the Yellow Card scheme and to help improve the safe use of medicines and medical devices for everyone.A sharp increase in reporting, mainly from patients, has been seen due to better awareness of the scheme following significant communications activity at the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign. MHRA works with key partners to include information about the Yellow Card scheme to be given to recipients of medical products, coupled with MHRA campaigns and outreach work that generates media coverage.

Clinical Trials: Ethnic Groups

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he plans to help increase the representation of ethnic minority patients participating in clinical trials.

Will Quince: The Department commissions research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR has published a strategy setting out how it will become a more inclusive funder of research and widen access to participation in clinical trials. The strategy has been designed to address inequalities associated with the protected characteristics of the Equality Act 2010, which includes ethnicity.The NIHR is also seeking to better understand who is participating in its research to monitor changes over time and has published its first randomised controlled trial (RCT) data report which found that the diversity of NIHR’s RCT participants is in line with the diversity of the 2011 census population.

Ministry of Defence

Pinnacle Service Families: Recruitment

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people have been employed by Pinnacle as part of its contract to manage the National Service Centre each month since April 2022.

James Cartlidge: The table below gives a snapshot of the number of people employed by Pinnacle as part of its contract to manage the National Service Centre at the start of the contract in April 2022, and the most recent date for which data is available, March 2023.The numbers cannot currently be provided on a month-by-month basis.  MonthNumber of people employedApril 2022 (start of contract)76March 2023 (recent date available)193

Artillery: Finance

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 172980 on Artillery: Finance, when the Mobile Fires Platform will exit the concept phase.

James Cartlidge: The Mobile Fires Platform project will progress from the Concept Phase to the Assessment Phase following approval of the Outline Business Case, intended to be submitted this summer.

Rifles: Procurement

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Swedish Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifles his Department plans to purchase.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, when the first deliveries of Swedish Carl-Gustaf M4 recoilless rifles to the Army will be.

James Cartlidge: The Army has purchased 56 Carl-Gustaf M4 systems from Saab, plus a package of ammunition and training. The M4s will be delivered following provision of Saab’s ‘train the trainer’ course in October 2023.

Military Bases: Concrete

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many and what proportion of (a) barracks, (b) service family accommodation and (c) training facilities are affected by the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete; and if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete on the structural integrity of those buildings.

James Cartlidge: Surveys are currently being conducted to identify buildings which may have been constructed with Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC). Following this, specialist suppliers will confirm presence of RAAC. If identified, a risk assessment will be conducted and discussed with the appropriate site teams to ensure appropriate mitigation is applied and monitored. Where RAAC is suspected, but not confirmed, a risk assessment and mitigation will be put in place anyway. Until surveys are complete, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of barracks, service family accommodation and training facilities which might have been constructed with RAAC.

Defence Equipment: Asbestos

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many pieces of equipment in the (a) army, (b) navy and (c) RAF have been affected by asbestos in the latest period for which data is available; and what types of equipment were affected.

James Cartlidge: The information needed to answer the right hon. Member's question is taking time to collate. I will write to him with an answer shortly, and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Defence Equipment and Support: Staff

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many (a) contractors and (b) permanent staff are employed by Defence Equipment & Support.

James Cartlidge: As of 31 March 2023, Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) employed 11,972 permanent staff. Figures for permanent staff include both civilian and military personnel. In addition, 1,107 contractors are employed as Contingent Labour which is used to fill funded posts within DE&S on a short-term basis. Contractors are also engaged to provide Private Sector Support (PSS), which is defined by DE&S as external support to supplement DE&S capacity and capability to manage its programme of work. It may also include support to business improvement and change programmes. PSS delivers contracted outputs via several arrangements, including the Delivery Partner arrangement and the Crown Commercial Services framework. DE&S Staff numbers are published annually as part of the DE&S Annual Reports and Accounts, which are available on Gov.uk at: Defence Equipment & Support annual report and accounts: index - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Armed Forces: Housing

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many complaints relating to (a) UK Service Family Accommodation and (b) UK Single Living Accommodation were reported in 2022.

James Cartlidge: From April 2022 until December 2022 only the total numbers of complaints made by people living in Service Family Accommodation (SFA) can be provided and is shown below. Month (2022)Total number of complaints receivedApril1,190May1,122June1,327July988August1,016September1,011October924November1,295December1,378 From January 2023 this data is broken down by contractor. Complaints ReceivedMonthPinnacleAmeyVivoTotalJan-23425329531,527Feb-2348317622987Mar-2371303560934 The above figures represent the total number of complaints received and are not broken down into specific elements of the service provided. Complaints range from missed appointments and poor communication to damp and mould and delays to necessary repairs. A new case management and case handling model was introduced in February, which includes increasing staff capacity at Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO to handle complaints.

Military Bases

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will publish a list of military bases used to house armed forces personnel broken down by region.

James Cartlidge: I will place a copy of a list of UK locations used to house Armed Forces Personnel in the Library of the House. For security reasons, this is itemised by Region and Parliamentary constituency, not by individual military bases.Military bases that house Service personnel (xlsx, 29.4KB)

Ministry of Defence: Pinnacle Service Families and VIVO Defence Services

Luke Pollard: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent assessment he has made of the performance of (a) Pinnacle and (b) VIVO in their delivery of maintenance contracts for his Department.

James Cartlidge: Future Defence Infrastructure Services accommodation suppliers were directed by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to implement rectification plans to achieve rapid improvements in contract performance.There has been a marked improvement in Pinnacle's performance since January 2023. In most areas, where Pinnacle are completely in control of outcomes, their performance now meets or exceeds acceptable levels. There are a few areas, such as complaints resolution, where Pinnacle are not able to hit acceptable levels due to issues with the performance of the Regional Accommodation Maintenance Service Suppliers.VIVO's performance has also improved and continues to trend upwards, however more work is required to meet Acceptable Levels of Performance.

Amey and VIVO Defence Services: Staff

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many people were employed by (a) Amey and (b) VIVO as part of their sub contracts to manage the regional accommodation maintenance service in each month since April 2022.

James Cartlidge: The table below gives a snapshot of the number of people employed by Amey and VIVO as part of their contracts to manage the regional accommodation maintenance service, at the start of their contracts in April 2022, and the most recent date for which data is available, March 2023. The numbers cannot currently be provided on a month-by-month basis. MonthNumber of people employed AmeyVIVOApr-22 (start of contract)145220Mar-23 (most recent date available)170304

Military Bases: Decommissioning

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to A Better Defence Estate, published November 2016, whether (a) Defence Geographic Centre, Feltham, (b) Defence Infrastructure Organisation Aldershot, (c) Lodge Hill, (d) Defence Infrastructure Organisation Warrington, (e) Defence Infrastructure Organisation Head Office, Sutton Coldfield, (f) Athena House, (g) Joint Supply Chain Services, Longmoor, (h) Defence Support Group, Colchester, (i) Forthside Stirling and (j) JSCS Ashchurch (East) remain designated for disposal.

James Cartlidge: Where these sites have not already been disposed, they remain designated for disposal.

Army Foundation College: Sexual Offences

Dave Doogan: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to the Sexual Offences in the Service Justice System statistics for 2022 published on 30 March 2023, how many of the 34 victims of sexual offences cases aged under 18 were based at the Army Foundation College at the time of the offence.

Dr Andrew Murrison: It is taking some time to collate the information requested. I will write to the hon. Member shortly to answer his question and will place a copy of my response in the Library of the House.

Armed Forces: Complaints

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints relating to (a) bullying, (b) discrimination, (c) harassment and (d) assault have been made in each year since 2016.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints relating to (a) housing, (b) catering, (c) pay and (d) equipment have been made in each year since 2016.

Dr Andrew Murrison: There are no Service complaint reporting categories for ‘assault’, ‘catering’, or ‘equipment’. For common assault, actual bodily harm, and grievous bodily harm/wounding, these are offences that are dealt with under Service Law, not Service Complaints. If an individual has been the victim of a criminal act such as an assault, this will need to be reported to the appropriate civilian or military authorities and will be dealt with by the criminal justice system. Catering and equipment are not areas covered by Service complaints. There are different mechanisms for recording any issues in these areas. In addition, there are some issues that need to go through a separate complaints process before that can form the basis of a Service complaint. These are known as ‘Special to Type’ (STT). STT issues include housing complaints and issues regarding pay and allowances. Joint Service Publication 831 provides detailed guidance about what can and cannot be the subject of a Service Complaint and provides a comprehensive list of excluded matters: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/jsp-831-redress-of-individual-grievances-service-complaints To review every Service complaint within scope to identify if ‘assault’, ‘catering’, or ‘equipment’ are referenced as part of the complaint would incur disproportionate cost. The number of admissible Service complaints for Bullying, Discrimination, Harassment, Accommodation, and Pay is presented in the table below:  2016201720182019202020212022Bullying122133140145120143145Discrimination49455437656663Harassment 26252722151721Accommodation71810128911Pay 861375658515249 Notes to table:- Discrimination There is no reporting category for ‘Discrimination’. The available sub-reporting categories are:Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Marriage & Civil Partnership, Pregnancy & Maternity, Race/Ethnicity DiscriminationReligion/Belief DiscriminationSex Discrimination and Sexual Orientation DiscriminationThe Discrimination figures provided are for all sub-reporting categories- Harassment There is no reporting category for ‘Harassment’. The available sub-reporting categories are:Age, Disability, Gender Reassignment, Race/Ethnicity Harassment, Religion/Belief HarassmentSex HarassmentSexual Harassment and Sexual Orientation HarassmentThe Harassment figures provided are for all sub-reporting categories.- Housing There is no reporting category for ‘Housing’. Within the ‘Terms and Conditions of Service’ reporting category there is a sub-reporting category of ‘Accommodation’ which has been presented in lieu.- Pay There is no reporting category for ‘Pay’. The available sub-reporting categories are:AllowancesBasic PayChargesPension EntitlementsSpecialist PayThe Pay figures provided are for all sub-reporting categories. Pay queries will have been through their STT process first and are normally a complaint about the policy on which the STT decision was made.

Armed Forces: Complaints

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints have had their outcome reversed following an investigation by the Service Complaints Ombudsman each year since 2016.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The number of substance cases where the Service Complaints Ombudsman for the Armed Forces (SCOAF) partially or fully upholds in favour of the complainant can be found in Table 2.13 of the latest SCOAF Annual Statistical Tables:https://www.scoaf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Annual%20Statistical%20Tables%202022%20-%20Service%20Complaints.xlsxIn relation to investigations of undue delay, maladministration and/or substance the Ombudsman does not reverse the findings but can uphold elements of the investigations and make recommendations in relation to her findings.The annual number of Service Complaints whose admissibility decision was reviewed and formally overturned by the Ombudsman since 2016 can be found in Table 2.13 of the latest SCOAF Annual Statistical Tables:https://www.scoaf.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-04/Annual%20Statistical%20Tables%202022%20-%20Service%20Complaints.xlsx

Armed Forces: Complaints

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many service complaints in the (a) Army, (b) Royal Navy, (c) RAF and (d) tri-service took more than one year to be resolved in each year since 2016.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Defence aims to resolve Service complaints as quickly and efficiently as possible, however, there are instances, particularly where a case is complex, which can take longer than one year to resolve. The number of admissible Service complaints by Service with a time to closure of over one year:  2016201720182019202020212022Royal Navy4231483457160Army282196165197183204104Royal Air Force2847344541505Total352274247276281270109

Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has an obligation post-conflict to help clear up depleted uranium rounds fired by Challenger 2 tanks in Ukraine.

James Heappey: There is no obligation on the UK to help clear up depleted uranium rounds fired from Challenger 2 tanks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, we remain committed to helping Ukraine emerge from this war secure, prosperous and free and we are supporting a range of activities to meet Ukraine's immediate needs, restore essential infrastructure and services, and lay the groundwork for its longer-term recovery and post-war reconstruction.

Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department monitors the locations where British-supplied Challenger 2 tanks fire depleted uranium rounds in Ukraine.

James Heappey: British-supplied Challenger 2 tanks and depleted uranium (DU) ammunition granted to Ukraine are now under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). The Ministry of Defence does not monitor the locations from where DU rounds are fired by the AFU in Ukraine.

Ukraine: Depleted Uranium

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many depleted uranium rounds the UK supplied to Ukraine for use with the Challenger 2 tanks; and how many of those rounds have been fired.

James Heappey: We have sent thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armour-piercing rounds. For operational security reasons, we will not comment on Ukrainian usage rates for the rounds provided.

Official Secrets: Disclosure of Information

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether an investigation was launched into the leaking of classified documents related to Challenger 2 tanks on an online forum in July 2021.

James Heappey: I can confirm that the Ministry of Defence has concluded its investigations into this matter. The Department takes the security of its information and assets extremely seriously and will continue to take robust action in response to such incidents.

Birds: Cyprus

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to combat illegal songbird trapping on the sovereign island base areas of (a) Akrotiri and (b) Dhekelia.

James Heappey: The Sovereign Base Area Administration (SBAA) takes a zero-tolerance approach to illegal bird trapping and trade of wild birds. The SBAA and SBA Police are working in a strategic partnership with key environmental NGOs including Birdlife to eradicate bird crime in the SBAs. Activity to eradicate bird crime includes habitat management to make trapping less effective, seizure of trapping equipment to prevent it reoccurring, issuing of significant fines as a deterrent, and conducting vehicle checks. This action has resulted in a 98.5% reduction of illegal bird trapping activities in 2021-22, compared to the levels in 2016-17.Additionally, the UK is an active member of the Intergovernmental Task Force on the Illegal Killing, Taking and Trade of Migratory Birds in the Mediterranean (MIKT). The MIKT facilitates international cooperation to tackle bird crime, including the illegal trapping of songbirds.

Russia: Warships

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department has recorded Russian (a) military ships and b) suspected covert ships mapping (i) wind farms and (ii) undersea cables off the coast of the UK in each year since 2015.

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, on how many occasions his Department has detected Russian (a) military ships and (b) suspected covert ships in the North Sea in each year since 2015.

James Heappey: The Ministry of Defence fully recognises the risk from hostile surface and sub-surface activities to the UK's critical national infrastructure and focuses on the full range of threats and hazards.The Royal Navy maintains and protects the UK via the provision of a permanent 24/7/365 maritime presence and preparedness to ensure the security of the UK Marine Area.You will understand that for reasons of National Security, Defence will not be able disclose the sensitive intelligence information you have requested - the disclosure of such information would provide hostile actors with insight into UK capability and preparedness and would therefore be contrary to section 24 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.

Ukraine: Military Aid

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how much funding his Department has allocated for second round bids for the International Fund for Ukraine.

James Heappey: The UK, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Lithuania and Iceland have contributed a collective total of more than £520 million to the International Fund for Ukraine, of which the UK has contributed £250 million. As previously announced, the first package of capabilities to be procured through the Fund has an expected value of around £200 million.Over £300 million remains within the Fund and will be drawn down to fund capability packages resulting from Urgent Bidding Round two and subsequent rounds. Such decisions are taken by the Executive Panel (comprising the UK, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden) which oversees the Fund, rather than by the Ministry of Defence.We continue to seek further funding pledges from our international partners to grow the fund to meet future requirements.

Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what proportion of the pollutant linkage identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the foreshore areas of Dalgety Bay has been cleared since May 2021.

Dr Andrew Murrison: Until such time as the works are completed, it is not possible to calculate the proportion of pollutant linkage identified by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency in the foreshore areas of Dalgety Bay that has been cleared since May 2021. However, to date, 85% of the work has been completed with 3,200 particles of contamination being removed from 7,000 cubic meters of foreshore.

Radioactive Waste: Dalgety Bay

Neale Hanvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what recent estimate he has made of the cost of the remediation works at Dalgety Bay.

Dr Andrew Murrison: The current Approved Budget Level for the project is circa £15 million. The actual cost will remain undetermined until the work is completed and any risks addressed.

Department for Education

Higher Education: Health and Safety

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of introducing a statutory duty of care for higher education institutions on student (a) mental health, (b) safety and (c) well-being.

Robert Halfon: The mental health and wellbeing of young people is a high priority for this government. It is crucial that students get the effective mental health and wellbeing support they need to allow them to flourish at university.The department is determined to provide students with the best mental health support possible at university. If creating a statutory duty of care in this space was the right way to achieve this, it would have the government’s full backing. However, this government believes creating a statutory duty of care for higher education providers is not the most effective way to improve outcomes for students.Putting a duty of care on a statutory basis would not necessarily make a difference in practice to what providers have to do or the consequences if their actions mean a student’s wellbeing is harmed. This is because we consider that a duty of care already exists in common law as part of the law of negligence, and it is therefore not necessary to put it on a statutory basis.There are also other relevant legal protections that already apply. Students with disabilities, including mental health conditions, are protected under the Equality Act 2010, which prohibits unlawful discrimination and harassment because of a disability. It also imposes a duty on providers to make reasonable adjustments where disabled students, including those with mental health conditions, would otherwise be put at a substantial disadvantage.The government also believes that there are more effective solutions to improve outcomes for students in the near term. It is our view that the most effective way to support student mental health is through a two-pronged approach of funding vital and innovative services and working with mental health experts and the sector to implement best practice.The department has made clear our ambition for all providers to back the University Mental Health Charter by 2026. We expect universities to create cultural change around mental health by embedding a whole-university approach to support, as advocated by the charity Student Minds, with student mental health and wellbeing considered across every aspect of university life.The department has asked the Office for Students to distribute £15 million of funding to providers in 2023/24 to support student mental health, including providing additional support for transitions from school or college to university, with a particular focus on providing counselling services for students. This funding will also allow providers to continue to develop better partnerships with local NHS services to ensure that students are able to access support in a timely manner, and not slip between the gaps in university and NHS provision. Partnership working between HE providers and the NHS will improve the care of students experiencing poor mental health by ensuring a more joined up approach to the delivery of mental health support.

Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how the Regional Expert Partnerships intended to design and test the proposals in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan published in March 2023 will be established.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether organisations with places on the Regions Group will be on that board for a fixed term.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which organisations will have places on the Regions Group and how they will be be chosen.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether organisations with places on the Regional Expert Partnerships will be on the board for fixed terms.

Mr Virendra Sharma: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, which organisations will have places on the Regional Expert Partnerships, and how they will be be chosen.

Claire Coutinho: Through the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Change Programme, the department will establish up to nine Regional Expert Partnerships (REP) to test and refine our reforms. Each REP will be led by a local authority, selected using objective criteria based on published SEND performance data. An additional two to three local authorities will be included in each REP, based predominantly on their geographical proximity to the lead local authority, so we can test in a wide range of local areas with differing performance, capacity and capability. Wherever possible, each REP will be located within a single Integrated Care Board, to ensure close collaboration with health partners.REPs will be required to engage with their local partners, including health, social care, Multi-Academy Trusts, mainstream, specialist and alternative provision schools, and parents, children and young people, to involve them in testing and refining the reforms.Real-time learning from the REPs will be fed back to the department on a regular basis, and will inform discussions at the national SEND and AP Implementation Board.

Alternative Education and Special Educational Needs

Mrs Pauline Latham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to plans set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan published in March 2023 to work with a delivery partner and regional expert partnerships to implement a Change Programme, if she will publish tender documents for the appointment of that delivery partner.

Claire Coutinho: On the 6 March, the department published the invitation to tender for the Delivery Partner to support the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Change Programme, with a closing date of the 17 April. This was done through the department’s Management Consultancy Framework 3, inviting interested organisations to bid for the contract.

Disability and Special Educational Needs: Staff

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help (a) recruit and (b) retain special educational needs and disabilities specialist staff in schools.

Claire Coutinho: All teachers are teachers of Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND). The department is committed to ensuring that all pupils can reach their potential and receive excellent support from their teachers.The number of teachers remains high, with over 465,500 full-time equivalent teachers working in state-funded schools across the country. This is over 24,000 more than in 2010.The department’s priority is to ensure that we continue to attract, retain, and develop highly skilled teachers. This is why we are taking action to improve teacher supply and quality by transforming the training and support we provide for teachers to attract more people to teaching and enable them to succeed.The Teachers’ Standards sets clear expectations that teachers must understand the needs of all pupils. All trainees who achieve Qualified Teacher Status must demonstrate that they can adapt teaching to respond to the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.To support all teachers in meeting these standards, the department is implementing a golden thread of high-quality teacher training reforms, which begins with initial teacher training and continues throughout their career progression.Once teachers qualify and are employed in schools, headteachers use their professional judgement to identify any further training, including specific specialisms, for individual staff that is relevant to them, the school, and its pupils.To teach a class of pupils with sensory impairments, a teacher is required to hold the mandatory qualification in sensory impairment approved by my right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education. The department has developed a new approval process to determine providers of Mandatory Qualifications in Sensory Impairments from the start of the 2023/24 academic year. Our aim is to ensure a steady supply of teachers of children with visual, hearing, and multi-sensory impairments, in both specialist and mainstream settings.The school teachers’ pay and conditions document for 2022 sets out that an additional SEND allowance must be paid to teachers in a SEND post that requires a mandatory SEND qualification and involves teaching pupils with SEND. It is for schools to determine the specific amount, but this must be between £2,384 and £4,703 per annum.

Special Educational Needs: Finance

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what mechanisms she has put in place to ensure that funding disputes between health providers and local authorities do not stall a placement for a young person with SEND.

Claire Coutinho: Where a child or young person’s education, health and care plan names a school, college or early years setting, the local authority must secure a place. When a state-maintained school or setting is named, it is under a statutory duty to admit the child or young person.Local authorities are statutorily responsible for securing special educational provision, which is funded from their high needs budget, and children’s social care provision. Integrated Care Boards, as set out in Section 42 of the Children and Families Act 2014, are responsible for arranging, securing and funding the provision of health services or facilities for children and young people aged 0-25 with SEND, with an education, health and care plan. The legal mechanisms are already in place regarding joint working and commissioning arrangements, which are set out in the Children and Families Act 2014 Part 3 and under Section 26.

Childcare: Local Government

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the project commissioned by her Department and awarded to Hempsell's to support local authorities with their childcare sufficiency duties in the period between April 2023 and March 2025 was subject to a competitive tender process.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department undertook an assessment of the sufficiency of childcare services before commissioning Hempsall's to support local authorities with meeting their childcare duties.

Claire Coutinho: On 7 March 2023, the department published the contract award for the Local Authority Childcare Sufficiency Support Contract, which can be found at: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/006612-2023.The department undertook a competitive open procurement in accordance with Regulation 27 of Public Contract Regulations 2015. This was conducted electronically via the Jaggaer e-tendering portal, with three bids received.The department has regular contact with each local authority in England about their sufficiency of childcare and any issues they are facing. Where local authorities report sufficiency challenges, we discuss what action the local authority is taking to address those issues and where support may be needed.As part of the procurement, the department engaged with local authorities and undertook formal market engagement with potential providers to refine requirements and test their viability, in order to contract a service that would deliver support to local authorities and ensure value for money in the most efficient way. The published market engagement notice provides further detail and can be found here: https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/Notice/37b0cb7b-c0c5-41fe-a6ce-7730a9452cb4.

Autism

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of the impact of delays experienced in getting a diagnosis of autism on parents' ability to apply for an Educational, Health and Care Plan.

Claire Coutinho: The department recognises that there can be long waits for autism assessments. In 2023/24 there is national funding from government of £4.2 million to improve services for autistic children and young people, including to continue to transform and develop autism assessment and diagnosis and/or pre- and post-diagnostic support to children and young people (aged 0-25), and to support the continuation of the Autism in Schools programme.Additionally, NHS England has recently published a national framework to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways and the Operational Guidance to deliver improved outcomes in all-age autism assessment pathways.The department is committed to ensuring children who need education, health and care (EHC) plans are supported. The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Code of Practice is clear that, whilst the application for an EHC needs assessment requires evidence to proceed and that a diagnosis would be considered in this way, it is not a requirement for a formal diagnosis to be made before this process can begin. Where an NHS diagnosis has not been received, the assessment process can still be started and an EHC plan put in place.

Special Educational Needs

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when she plans to establish the first SEND Regional Expert Partnership.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will publish the criteria her Department used to select local authorities to lead Regional Expert Partnerships under the Change Programme.

Helen Hayes: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local authorities that have a Safety Valve Agreement with her Department will take part in Regional Expert Partnerships.

Claire Coutinho: The establishment and setup of the Regional Expert Partnerships (REPs) will begin in summer 2023.The department has used publicly available data to help identify a shortlist of local authorities that have the potential to lead the REPs in each region. The Department has shared the criteria used with these local authorities. We have not shortlisted any Safety Valve local authorities for the REPs. Being on the Safety Valve programme will not necessarily exclude these local authorities from sharing and/or receiving learning during the Change Programme’s lifetime.

Adoption: Young People

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, for what reasons adopted people aged between 21 and 25 who do not have an Education and Health Care Plan are ineligible for Adoption Support Funding for therapy; what assessment she has made of the impact of that rule on the mental health of those people; if she will make it her policy to increase that funding so that all adopted young people can get access to therapy; and if she will make a statement.

Claire Coutinho: The role of the Adoption Support Fund (ASF) is to provide funding for trauma and attachment therapy, as well as specialist assessments related to trauma and attachment, to children and young people who have been adopted or are under special guardianship orders after previously being in care.The department recognises that some of these young adults with special educational needs and disabilities also have access to an education, health and care plan up to age 25 because of their particular needs. We have, therefore, said these young people can also access the ASF up until age 25, to ensure they receive consistency of support for all their needs. These young people often have the highest potential for family breakdown due to the complexities of overcoming the trauma they may have experienced in their early years on top of their other special educational or health needs.Other young people aged over 21, who had previously been accessing ASF support, can access NHS adult mental health services, including therapeutic support. The government is investing at least £2.3 billion of additional funding a year by April 2024 to expand and transform mental health services in England so that 2 million more people will be able to get the mental health support they need. The government also announced in January 2023 a £150 million investment up to April 2025 to better support people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, mental health crises to receive care and support in more appropriate settings outside of A&E.

Supply Teachers: Enfield North

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of teaching were delivered by supply teachers in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in Enfield North constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Nick Gibb: The information requested on the hours of teaching delivered by supply teachers is not held by the Department.Information on the state funded school workforce in England, including the hours spent teaching subjects in a typical week in secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November, and published in the annual ‘School Workforce in England’ national statistics release, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england. Information on subjects taught is only collected from a sample of secondary schools and the data does not identify whether the teacher was a supply teacher. Information on the hours spent teaching subjects is not collected from primary schools.

Pre-school Education: Special Educational Needs

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made a recent assessment of the impact of relaxing staff to pupil ratios for early years education on children with Special Educational Needs.

Claire Coutinho: The department is committed to ensuring equality of opportunity for all children and as part of the ratio consultation it was important for the department to consider the possible impact proposals would have on different groups. Any potential impacts identified by respondents on people who share protected characteristics including children with Special Education Needs were considered.The government trusts that setting managers know their children and their staff best, and fully supports the judgement of setting managers and practitioners to work at the ratios that are right for the individual needs of their staff and children. The changes to ratios will continue to be a statutory minimum requirement for settings, and there will be no obligation on providers to operate at the statutory minimums.To support providers in meeting the needs of their children, the department is also investing an additional £204 million in 2023/24 to increase the hourly funding rate to providers, and £4.1 billion by 2027/28 to deliver a significantly expanded free hours offer. This sits alongside offer an Early Years Pupil Premium, through which providers can get up to £342 per year extra funding to support eligible children, including the most disadvantaged.A full response to the consultation can be found here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1142987/Childcare_regulatory_changes_government_consultation_response.pdf.

Special Educational Needs: Greater London

Feryal Clark: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide effective support for children with Education, Health and Care plan in (a) Enfield North constituency, (b) the London Borough of Enfield and (c) London.

Claire Coutinho: The department is committed to ensuring that children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), wherever they live, get the support they need, including those with Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan outlines the department’s mission to create a single, national SEND and AP system with the proposal to develop national standards a fundamental part of this. The standards will set out what support should be available and who is responsible for providing it, to give families confidence and clarity on how the needs of children and young people will be met. As these standards will apply nationally. London and more specifically the London Borough of Enfield, including the Enfield North constituency, are automatically included.The plan also sets out proposals to improve the assessment and planning process for EHC plans, by introducing standardised forms and processes and supporting guidance to provide greater consistency.Quality teaching and support is vital for all children with SEND to reach their potential. The department will introduce a new leadership level Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator National Professional Qualification for schools. We are also taking steps to build teacher expertise in meeting the needs of children with SEND through a review of the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework.Furthermore, high needs funding to support children and young people with complex SEND is rising to £10.1 billion in the 2023/24 financial year, an increase of over 50% compared to the 2019/20 financial year. Of this, London Borough of Enfield’s high needs funding allocation for the 2023/24 financial year will be £76 million, an 11.5% per head increase compared to the amount of high needs funding allocated in the 2022/23 financial year.

Teachers: Birmingham Northfield

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in secondary schools in Birmingham Northfield constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in secondary schools in Stevenage constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in secondary schools in Filton and Bradley Stoke constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in secondary schools in Darlington constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in secondary schools in Wolverhampton North East constituency in the last 12 months for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Camborne and Redruth constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Wycombe constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Chipping Barnet constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Kensington constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Northampton North constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Milton Keynes North constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Keighley constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in High Peak constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Gloucester constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Bournemouth East constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Bournemouth East constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Bridget Phillipson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many hours of (a) mathematics, (b) English, (c) sciences and (d) modern foreign languages were taught in secondary schools in Scunthorpe constituency by teachers who had neither a relevant A-level or higher level qualification in the last full year for which data are available.

Nick Gibb: Information on the school workforce in England, including subjects taught in state funded secondary schools, is collected as part of the annual School Workforce Census each November. Information is published in the ‘School Workforce in England’ statistical publication, available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.The total number of hours taught for each subject are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/38de2951-c92c-46e4-39fb-08db371965b6.The proportion of those hours that were taught by teachers without a relevant A level or higher level qualification are available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ee831a35-e304-4821-bb6a-08db371944c7.Timetabled teaching is reported for a typical week in November, as determined by the school. It does not cover an entire year of teaching. If there are variations in timetabling across the year, this is not covered in the data available to the Department. To reduce the burden during the COVID-19 pandemic, schools and Local Authorities were not required to provide information on teacher qualifications in the 2020 census.Data on the subject taught is only collected from secondary schools that use electronic timetabling software that can produce data in the format required. Data is then weighted to provide national totals. Breakdowns by Local Authority and parliamentary constituency are, therefore, not available.

Students: Qualifications

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to help students to complete their coursers when an accredited provider of qualifications closes down.

Robert Halfon: When a provider of publicly-funded qualifications in England closes down, the department’s primary goal is to ensure that any students impacted are able to continue with their learning.The department has specialist teams with specific processes in place (depending on provider type, qualification type and contract type) to effectively manage such closures, with a focus on continuity for the students concerned.

Disability and Special Educational Needs

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 4 April to Question 171482 on Disability and Special Educational Needs, when she plans to publish the new national special educational needs and disabilities and alternative provision standards covering early years, school, and post-16 provisions.

Claire Coutinho: In the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan published 2 March 2023, the department committed to publishing a significant proportion of the new national standards by the end of 2025. The department remains committed to this timeline, recognising the importance of ensuring the standards are evidence-based and that children, young people and their families are able to feed into the development process.We are setting up a steering group of cross-sector representatives to oversee the work, and will test the standards with stakeholders across education, health and social care in the context of a £70 million Change Programme before rolling them out across the system.

Schools: Defibrillators

Tracey Crouch: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many defibrillators have been delivered to state-funded schools in (a) Medway and (B) Kent in 2023 as part of her Department's work with the Oliver King foundation.

Nick Gibb: On 20 January 2023, the Department announced that the first deliveries of defibrillators had taken place. More information on the announcement can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/defibrillator-deliveries-begin-for-all-schools-that-need-one.Since this announcement, as part of the ongoing rollout, the Department has delivered over 3,500 defibrillators to state funded schools.As of 12 April 2023, 98 defibrillators have been delivered to state funded schools in Kent and 31 to schools in Medway Local Authorities. All eligible schools in Kent and Medway are expected to receive a defibrillator by the end of the 2022/23 academic year. Schools will be contacted by the supplier, Lyreco, once their defibrillator has been dispatched.The Department would again like to express thanks to Mark King and the Oliver King Foundation.

Special Educational Needs

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that schools provide effective support for children with Education, Health and Care Plans in (a) Ipswich constituency and (b) England.

Claire Coutinho: The department is committed to ensuring that children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), wherever they live, get the support they need, including those with education, health and care (EHC) plans. The SEND and Alternative Provision (AP) Improvement Plan outlines the department’s mission to create a single, national SEND and AP system with the proposal to develop national standards as a fundamental part of this. The standards will set out what support should be available and who is responsible for providing it, to give families confidence and clarity on how the needs of children and young people will be met. As these standards will apply nationally, Ipswich is automatically included.The plan also sets out proposals to improve the assessment and planning process for EHC plans, by introducing standardised forms and processes, and supporting guidance to provide greater consistency.Quality teaching and support is vital for all children with SEND to reach their potential. The department will introduce a new leadership level Special Educational Needs Co-ordinator National Professional Qualification for schools. We are also taking steps to build teacher expertise in meeting the needs of children with SEND through a review of the Initial Teacher Training Core Content Framework and Early Career Framework.

Training: Young People

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of young adults joining the Trade Industry through training schemes such as apprenticeships.

Robert Halfon: The department has invested in a range of programmes aimed at encouraging young people and adults to train, retrain and get the skills they need for employment, including in the Trade industry.We are providing an extra £1.6 billion in 16-to-19 education by the 2024/25 financial year, compared with 2021/22. This includes up to £500 million extra a year for T Levels when fully rolled out.The Adult Education Budget, which is £1.34 billion in the 2022/23 financial year, fully funds or co-funds skills provision for eligible adults aged 19 and above from pre-entry to level 3, to support them to gain the skills they need for work, an apprenticeship or further learning.The department has introduced T Levels, which are two-year, level 3, technical study courses that offer young people a choice of high-quality training. 16 T Levels are now available in further education providers across the country, with T Levels in Construction leading to careers in plumbing and heating engineering, carpentry and joinery, bricklaying, plastering & painting and decorating, along with many other trade occupations.There are nearly 100 high-quality employer-designed apprenticeship standards available in the construction sector. The department is increasing investment in apprenticeships to £2.7 billion by 2024/25 to support more apprenticeship opportunities, and we continue to offer £1,000 payments to employers when they take on apprentices aged 16 to 18, or 19 to 24 where they have an education, health and care plan. In addition, our Career Starter apprenticeships campaign is promoting apprenticeships that offer great opportunities to those leaving full-time education, such as Engineering Fitter and Plumber.We have introduced Skills Bootcamps which are free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks, giving people over the age of 19 the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills, with an offer of a job interview with an employer on completion. Training is available in skill areas such as construction, engineering and other technical sectors including courses in welding, electrical installation and plumbing amongst others.Following the recent Budget announcement of an additional £34 million investment in the 2024/25 financial year, building upon the £550 million investment across the 2022/25 financial years, we will target making 64,000 training places a year available by 2024/25 to ensure that even more adult learners across all areas of the country can access Skills Bootcamps.The Free Courses for Jobs offer gives eligible adults the chance to access high value Level 3 qualification for free. This offer includes many qualifications that are delivered flexibly and online. Qualifications are available across the country in a wide range of sectors including building, construction and engineering.

Teachers: Neurodiversity

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to improve teacher's knowledge of neurodiversity conditions.

Nick Gibb: All teachers are teachers of special education needs and disabilities (SEND), and high quality teaching is central to ensuring that pupils with SEND are given the best possible opportunity to achieve at school.Quality teaching is the most important in-school factor in improving outcomes for all children, particularly those with SEND. From September 2020, all new teachers have benefited from at least three years of evidence based professional development and support, starting with Initial Teacher Training (ITT) based on the new ITT Core Content Framework (CCF), and followed by a new two year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF).All courses must be designed so that trainee teachers can demonstrate that they meet the Teachers’ Standards at the appropriate level. This includes the requirement in Standard 1, that teachers must set goals that stretch and challenge pupils of all backgrounds, abilities and dispositions as well as Standard 5, that all teachers must have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND.The CCF sets out a minimum entitlement of the knowledge and experiences that trainees need to enter the profession in the best position possible to teach and support all pupils to succeed. The Department will be conducting a review this year of the CCF and ECF to identify how the frameworks can equip new teachers to be more confident in meeting the needs of pupils with SEND.

Students: Tristan Da Cunha

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students from Tristan da Cunha are currently studying at Universities in the United Kingdom.

Robert Halfon: The Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA) collects and publishes statistics on higher education (HE) at UK HE providers. Latest statistics refer to the 2021/22 academic year.Table 11 of HESA’s Student Data resources shows the number of HE student enrolments by domicile and region of HE provider, and can be found at: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/table-11. The table shows that there were 20 student enrolments[1] at UK HE providers in the 2021/22 academic year who were domiciled in St Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha prior to their studies. Figures are not disaggregated specifically for Tristan da Cunha.[1] Figures have been rounded to the nearest five, in line with HESA rounding conventions. More information on rounding and suppression strategy can be found at the following link: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/support/definitions/students#rounding-and-suppression-strategy.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities

Private Rented Housing: Pets

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to abolish blanket bans on pets in the private rented sector.

Rachel Maclean: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 176692 on 21 April 2023.

Rented Housing: Scotland

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the impact of rental caps on the level of investment in the build-to-rent sector in Scotland.

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the implications for his policies of the potential impact of rental caps on the level of development of rental housing in Scotland.

Rachel Maclean: Housing in Scotland is a devolved matter. The Government does not support the introduction of rent controls in the private rented sector which would set the level of rent. Evidence suggests that these would discourage investment and would lead to declining property standards as a result, which would not help landlords and would worsen conditions for tenants.

Community Housing Fund

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy to use any in-year underspend in his Department's revenue budget to re-open the Community Housing Fund; and if he will make a statement.

Rachel Maclean: Details of departmental underspends are published annually as part of HM Treasury’s Main Supply Estimates.

Affordable Housing: Service Charges

Lloyd Russell-Moyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what guidance his Department issues on (a) statutory limits on service charge increases in government-backed affordable housing schemes and (b) options available to enable leaseholders under such schemes to seek redress for excessive service charges.

Rachel Maclean: Under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, variable service charges must be reasonable and, where costs relate to works or services, the works or services must be of a reasonable standard. Leaseholders may seek free advice from organisations such as the Leasehold Advisory Service and Citizens Advice. Should leaseholders wish to contest the reasonableness of their service charges they may make an application to the appropriate tribunal.

Rented Housing: Mould

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what estimate he has made of how many (a) housing association, (b) council and (c) private rental properties had damp and mould in (i) Camberwell and Peckham constituency, (ii) Southwark and (iii) London in financial year 2022-2023.

Ms Harriet Harman: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure (a) housing association, (b) council and (c) private rented properties in (i) Camberwell and Peckham constituency, (ii) Southwark and (ii) London are free from damp and mould.

Felicity Buchan: I refer the Rt. Hon. Member to the answer given to Question UIN 181418 on 24 April 2023.

Members: Correspondence

Mr John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, when he plans to respond to correspondence of 13 December 2022, 16 January 2023, 20 February 2023 and 22 March 2023 from the hon. Member for Basildon and Billericay on a constituent, case reference JB38967.

Dehenna Davison: I apologise for the delay in responding to my Hon. Friend’s correspondence. A response was issued on 24 April 2023.

Freehold

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department is taking steps to ensure that freeholders have a responsibility to provide housing (a) of an equal or higher standard and (b) in the same area for people served with a prohibition notice.

Lee Rowley: As I set out in my answer given to Question UIN 152313 on 6 March 2023, building owners are legally responsible for making sure their buildings are safe. Should the residents of an unsafe building need to be evacuated, the Government expects building owners to provide suitable alternative accommodation until residents can return home, at the building owner’s expense. It is the responsibility of building owners to avoid evacuation and decanting where it is possible to do so.

Public Lavatories

Beth Winter: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to the technical consultation referred to in Written Statement HCWS172 of 9 November 2022, what progress has been made in technical consultations regarding the potential merits of requiring local authorities and private workplaces to ensure equal access to hygiene bins in public and workplace toilets.

Lee Rowley: The Government has carried out a call for evidence and research to help inform and consider changes to statutory guidance which includes consideration of sanitary bins. Further details will be set out in due course.

Land: Sales

Wera Hobhouse: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of proscribing uplift clauses in new land sale agreements.

Rachel Maclean: We are introducing new transparency measures through the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill so that we can better understand interests in land.

Voting Rights: Foreign Nationals

Sarah Olney: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, if he will make it his policy that foreign nationals who have lived in the UK for more than five years should be able to (a) stand and (b) vote in all (i) local elections, (ii) general elections and (iii) referendums.

Dehenna Davison: No. The Representation of People Act 1983 and subsequent legislation set out which non-UK nationals' resident in the UK can participate in our Parliamentary and Local elections. This is rightly restricted to British citizens and those with the closest historic links to our country.

Rented Housing: Students

Darren Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of landlords not being able to issue two months' notice to tenants as a result of legislative change on (a) small student lets and (b) HMOs housing students.

Rachel Maclean: The department will publish a full Impact Assessment alongside legislation.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Energy: Arrears

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what recent assessment he has made of the impact of the increases in the cost of living on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into arrears with their energy supplier.

Amanda Solloway: Ofgem publishes statistics on energy debt and arrears which can be found at: https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications/debt-and-arrears-indicators. The Government introduced the ‘Breathing Space’ scheme which aims to address the ability of consumers to tackle debt and offers legal protections from creditors for 60 days. Under Ofgem rules, energy companies must set appropriate repayment plans based on a customer’s ability to pay for those at risk of, or in, debt.

Tidal Power: Finance

Alan Brown: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the tidal stream ringfence can increase following the closure of the Qualification Assessment Window.

Graham Stuart: The CfD application window will close on 24 April 2023, following which the Electricity Market Reform Delivery Body (National Grid Electricity Systems Operator) will assess applications and provide my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State with a valuation of all qualifying applicants. The Secretary of State may then consider whether to increase the budget for the allocation round.

Farmers: Energy

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many and what proportion of farmers have been informed of the level of funding they will receive from the Government to help with energy costs in Northern Ireland; and what steps he is taking with Cabinet colleagues to ensure that all eligible farmers receive this funding.

Amanda Solloway: It is not possible to estimate how much energy bill support will be provided to farmers in Northern Ireland under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme. This is because discounts are determined by contract type, tariff and volume of energy consumed and are applied directly to eligible bills by energy suppliers. Suppliers are required to provide customers with certain information regarding the Energy Bills Discount Scheme, including the amount of discount which has been applied to the bill.

Carbon Budgets

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs on (a) the potential impact of the waste and fluorinated gases emissions reduction targets in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan on that sector and (b) the ability of the sector to deliver on those targets.

Graham Stuart: The Domestic and Economic Affairs (Energy, Climate and Net Zero) Cabinet Committee and supporting governance structures ensure that there are multiple forums empowered to identify and address the system-wide interdependencies within net zero, and between net zero and other priorities, to keep us on track to meet Carbon Budgets. My Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero is the deputy chair of this Committee which my Rt. Hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and I also attend.

Carbon Budgets

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether the Government has conducted a risk assessment for the agriculture and land use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF) policies in the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan published on 30 March 2023.

Graham Stuart: Appendix D of the Carbon Budget Delivery Plan published in March this year sets out sectoral summaries of delivery confidence, looking at carbon reduction policies across different sectors of the economy, including Natural Resources (which includes agriculture and land use).

Environment Protection: Job Creation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2023 to Question 149438 on Environment Protection: Job Creation, if he will publish the (a) agenda and (b) outcomes for the group meetings.

Graham Stuart: As part of the Powering Up Britain: The Net Zero Growth plan publication, the Government committed to publishing a joint government-industry Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan in the first half of 2024, representing the culmination of several sectoral assessments in the coming 12 months. Additionally, the Green Jobs Delivery Group co-Chairs will begin publishing biannual progress updates on its work, starting later this year.

Environment Protection: Job Creation

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, pursuant to the answer of 24 February 2023 to Question 149438 on Environment Protection: Job Creation, what the (a) aims and objectives and (b) members are of each of the three ask and finish groups; and when each is due to report.

Graham Stuart: The Green Jobs Delivery Group will deliver the recently announced joint government-industry Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan, to be published in 2024. In support, time-limited task and finish groups are being established on themes such as 'nature' and 'local'. The pilot Power and Networks Working Group published initial actions in the Net Zero Growth Plan, to be followed by a further update in summer 2023, including a sectoral assessment of workforce needs which will serve as a template for other sectors. The Net Zero and Nature Workforce Action Plan will represent the culmination of these sectoral assessments.

Energy Supply: Business

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number and proportion of businesses that are on deemed contracts for their energy supply.

Amanda Solloway: The Government does not hold this information. Ofgem are in the process of conducting a review of the non-domestic market which will provide up-to-date data on Deemed Contracts. They have published their initial findings which found that the prevalence of Deemed Contracts has increased amongst some non-domestic customers. The full findings of Ofgem’s review are due to be published in the summer.

Infrastructure: Environment Protection

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department plans to provide funding for the training of labour for the delivery of (a) low carbon installations and (b) other green infrastructure.

Graham Stuart: In March 2023, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero announced an additional £5 million to support low carbon heating training, expected to support around 10,000 training opportunities by March 2025.This is in addition to the £15 million committed to skills in the energy efficiency and low carbon heating sectors since 2020 through the Home Decarbonisation Skills Training Fund, supporting over 16,000 training opportunities for people working in the energy efficiency, retrofit and low carbon heating sectors in England. The Department for Education is investing an additional £3.8 billion in skills by 2024-25, which includes green infrastructure training programmes.

Carbon Capture and Storage

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how the £20 billion for carbon capture and storage announced in the Spring Budget 2023 will be funded.

Graham Stuart: I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Wokingham on 24th April 2023 to Question 180628.

Energy: Business

Bill Esterson: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what Government support will be available to help businesses with energy bills in the next 12 months.

Amanda Solloway: The new Energy Bill Discount Scheme (EBDS) will continue to provide a discount on energy bills for eligible non-domestic customers from this April until March 2024. Under the EBDS, non-domestic customers who have a contract with a licensed energy supplier will see a unit discount of up to £6.97/MWh automatically applied to their gas bill and a unit discount of up to £19.61/MWh applied to their electricity bill, except for those benefitting from lower energy prices. Businesses will also benefit from the additional £6bn the Government is investing in energy efficiency to reduce energy consumption in homes and businesses.

Alternative Fuel Payments: Houseboats

Simon Lightwood: To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether people who live on houseboats as continuous cruisers are eligible to receive the alternative fuel payment.

Amanda Solloway: The Government is keen to support these households and to ensure that they can receive the Alternative Fuel Payment (AFP) via the Alternative Fund (AF) where eligible. The Government is currently working to find an acceptable method for these households to provide proof of eligibility, whilst protecting public funds, so they can claim the AFP AF support.

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Colombia: Peace Negotiations

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to support the Colombian Government with potential peace talks with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

David Rutley: To date, we have spent over £77 million through the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) to support the implementation of the Peace Agreement in Colombia. Our funding is supporting the Colombian Government's rural development and reintegration programmes, transitional justice mechanisms, and strengthening the security and participation of the communities in conflict-affected areas. As penholder at the UN Security Council, we will continue to support the Colombian Government's efforts to expand the scope of peace in Colombia through dialogue and through comprehensive implementation of the Final Peace Agreement.

Climate Change: Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent steps his Department has taken to meet the commitments set out in the guidance entitled International Climate Finance, published on 13 June 2018.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK is delivering on our commitment to spend £11.6 billion International Climate Finance (ICF) between 2021/22 and 2025/26 including £3 billion on development solutions that protect and restore nature and are balanced between support for adaptation and mitigation. On 30 March 2023, the UK published the UK International Climate Finance Strategy which sets out in detail our plans to deliver on our commitments. In addition, we publish our ICF results annually, setting out our achievements to date.

East Africa: Droughts

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking with his international counterparts to help tackle possible (a) drought and (b) hunger resulting from drought in East Africa.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is committed to addressing the grave and deteriorating food security situation across East Africa. Due to the combined effects of climate change and conflict almost 72 million people will need life-saving humanitarian aid in the region this year. In financial year 2022/2023 the UK met its £156 million commitment to provide relief aid throughout East Africa. The UK is working to raise the profile of the crisis with our international partners and to ensure an appropriate focus on the need for long-term solutions to the region's recurrent crises including drought.

Somaliland: Violence

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to help resolve conflict in (a) Las Anod and (b) Somaliland.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessmen he has made of (a) alleged bombings in and (b) the displacement of civilians from Las Anod and Somaliland.

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment  he has made of violence and alleged human rights abuses in Las Anod.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The fighting in Las Anod has seen credible reports of shelling of civilian areas, including a hospital. The humanitarian impact has been severe with more than 180,000 people displaced from their homes. The UK is providing a range of humanitarian support. We assess that there are risks of further escalation if a ceasefire is not agreed and we are working privately and publicly with a range of partners to press all parties to the conflict to end the fighting. On 15 April, the UK and 14 international partners held a joint call with President Bihi to press for de-escalation and humanitarian access. We have issued several statements independently and with partners, most recently on 15 April following the above call, calling for de-escalation, humanitarian access and dialogue. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and to press for a resolution to the conflict.

Humanitarian Aid: Women

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether the Government is taking steps to help ensure the (a) participation and (b) resourcing of women-led organisations at pledging conferences for international humanitarian emergencies.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is committed to improving women's leadership in humanitarian crises. Last year, we co-hosted the Afghanistan Pledging Conference, providing a platform for Afghan women's rights activists to speak. We are committed to supporting women-led organisations in crises. In 2022 we provided $185 million to the UN's Country Based Pooled Funds, which direct humanitarian funding to local organisations, including women-led organisations. This year we launched the £38 million Advancing Gender Equality through support to Women's Rights Organisations programme, which will provide grants to women's rights organisations and work to amplify their voices in key fora such as pledging conferences.

Development Aid: Charities

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to provide international development charities with funding to increase their aid capabilities.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) are important partners in delivering UK aid, developing policy and tackling the biggest challenges. The International Development Strategy sets out our commitment to working in partnership with CSOs, large and small from across the UK, as well as southern-based CSOs. The strategy also commits us to increase the speed we engage partners through grants.The FCDO continues to partner with civil society to deliver impact with UK aid and we are currently considering our future approach to central funding. Engagement with the sector will be key to shaping this offer, and we will take particular care to include engagement with local actors.

Democratic Republic of Congo: Violence

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he will take to raise anti-Tutsi violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo with his international counterparts.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK strongly condemns all forms of hate speech and violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). We have raised the increase in violence and hate speech with the government of the DRC at the highest levels, most recently, during my visit to DRC in March where I [Minister Mitchell] met with a number of Government officials, including DRC's Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Lutundula. We will continue to work with members of the international community to counter hate speech and incitement to violence in DRC.

Bulgaria: Russia

Sir Bernard Jenkin: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is planning to take in response to Russia's capture of 14 Bulgarian sailors who were stranded in Mariupol as hostages; whether the Government has provided support to the government of Bulgaria to resist Russian demands; and if he will make a statement.

Leo Docherty: The UK and Bulgaria are strong friends and partners and NATO allies. We work closely together with Bulgarian counterparts at all levels in response to Russia's brutal invasion of Ukraine including on our diplomatic responses, advancing our common security interests, energy diversification and joint working on countering disinformation. I discussed the response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine when he visited Sofia in March 2023.

Africa: Marburg Virus

Navendu Mishra: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what support the Government is providing to (a) Tanzania and (b) other nations affected by the Marburg virus.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK's £340 million of core funding (2020-2024) to the World Health Organization (WHO) helps address UK global priorities, including building resilient health systems around the world, especially in the poorest countries, and helping us prevent and prepare for pandemics.In Tanzania, the UK is also providing £100,000 through WHO-Tanzania, while the British High Commission chairs the Health Development Partners group that is coordinating donor support for the outbreak response. UK funding is earmarked to help the Tanzanian Ministry of Health enhance surveillance and outbreak investigation, and active case searches in communities and health facilities. Other types of support are also made available. For example, through the WHO's Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network the UK Public Health Rapid Support Team deployed a Spanish-speaking epidemiologist to assist with an outbreak of the Marburg virus in Equatorial Guinea in February 2023.

Climate Change: Finance

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what proportion of UK International Climate Finance is spent on adaptation.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: The UK is committed to delivering balance between support for adaptation and mitigation through our International Climate Finance (ICF). In line with our international obligations our ICF spending is published through the United National Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The most recent data can be found in the UK's Eighth National Communication and Fifth Biennial Report. In 2020, the most recent reported year, the UK spent 47 per cent of ICF on adaptation and 53 per cent on mitigation.

India: Solar Power

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 174402 on Development Aid to India, if he will hold discussions with (a) his Indian counterparts and (b) representatives of the World Bank on the (i) land procurement process for and (ii) impact on famers of the development solar park in Madhya Pradesh.

Ben Lake: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 March 2023 to Question 174402 on Development Aid to India, what steps his Department has taken to monitor the World Bank’s adherence to the Environmental and Social Framework; and if he will publish his Department’s conclusions.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan: India's energy choices are crucial to global climate change outcomes. The UK Government welcomes India's commitment to expanding renewables at an unprecedented speed and its international leadership on initiatives such as the International Solar Alliance. We are supporting India's efforts to achieve its climate goals and Net Zero by 2070, including through a guarantee to the World Bank to provide an additional $1 billion of climate finance and British International Investment Partnerships.As with all major infrastructure projects undertaken around the world, understanding and mitigating the social and environmental impacts on affected communities (including through consultation) forms an important part of the project. The World Bank has an Environmental and Social Framework (ESF) for protecting people and the environment and the Government monitors the Bank's adherence to these standards.

Water: Sustainable Development

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Water Action Agenda agreed at the UN 2023 Water Conference in March 2023, how many of the Water Action Agenda pledges the UK Government has committed to; and how much funding the UK Government has allocated towards delivering those commitments in each of the next five financial years.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK played a leading role at the UN Water conference, calling for stronger leadership, governance, increased finance for water, and embedding water across all sectors. As co-chair of the interactive dialogue on water for health, Lord Goldsmith announced £18.5 million in new support to strengthen Water, Sanitation and Hygiene systems in up to five countries in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Lord Goldsmith also announced seed funding for a £38 million water security programme. This includes support to the Fair Water Footprints, The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) Water Tracker, and Resilient Water Accelerator initiatives. These initiatives are part of the Water Action Agenda.

Water: Sustainable Development

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make a comparative assessment of the adequacy of the number of Water Action Agenda pledges that the UK Government has made in response to Water Action Agenda agreed at the UN 2023 Water Conference in March 2023 compared with (a) Germany, (b) France and (c) the US.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK played a leading role at the UN Water conference, calling for stronger leadership, governance, increased finance for water, and embedding water across all sectors. The UK is working through partners who have submitted transformative initiatives through the Water Action Agenda, including the Fair Water Footprints, The Alliance for Global Water Adaptation (AGWA) Water Tracker, and Resilient Water Accelerator initiatives. The UK also announced £18.5 million in new support to strengthen Water, Sanitation and Hygiene systems. The Water Action Agenda provides a platform to improve alignment and coordination globally on solutions to the water crisis. We are working closely with international partners, including the US and EU Member States, to drive forward coordination and transformation in water security.

Malaria: Disease Control

James Sunderland: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to World Malaria Day 2023, what steps his Department is taking to support the delivery of (a) malaria vaccines and (b) next-generation insecticide-treated nets to malaria endemic communities.

Mr Andrew Mitchell: The UK is supporting the delivery of vaccines for malaria through our £1.65 billion of core funding to Gavi, with UK funding contributing to Gavi's $156 million malaria vaccine programme which launched in January 2022. Our support to the Liverpool-based Innovative Vector Control Consortium (IVCC) has helped develop technologies that have averted up to 27 million cases of malaria, including the novel dual-action bed nets that kill mosquitoes resistant to traditional insecticides. The UK's pledge of £1 billion to the Global Fund's seventh replenishment will support the transition to and distribution of next-generation insecticide-treated nets to malaria endemic communities.

Ethiopia: Refugees

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment has the Department made of reports that Egypt has forcibly returned refugees fleeing persecution to Ethiopia.

David Rutley: The UK Government consistently urges all states to uphold international law and international human rights standards and to avoid any action that may endanger human life. We have made no specific assessment on these reported instances, but we regularly discuss migration and treatment of refugees with partners, including through our embassies, and we remain committed to supporting them to manage this effectively.

China: Caribbean

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the level of Chinese influence in the Caribbean.

David Rutley: The UK recognises China as a source of aid, trade and investment for many countries including in the Caribbean. Chinese investment can support jobs and growth, but it is important that China pays due regard to environmental and social safeguards, transparency, and debt sustainability. It is precisely because we recognise China's role in the world that we expect China to live up to its international responsibilities and we will hold China to account when it does not.

Nicaragua: Human Rights

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implication's for his policies of Amnesty International's report entitled Nicaragua: A continuum of repression and systematic human rights violations under the Ortega-Murillo government, published April 18, 2023.

David Rutley: The report by Amnesty International reflects the findings highlighted in the United Nations Human Rights Council's Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua (GHREN) report of March 2023. In the Human Rights Council session on 3 April, the UK supported the renewal of the GHREN mandate, noting that the resolution was both warranted and also much needed as part of international community efforts to discourage the Nicaraguan Government from committing further violations, abuses, and crimes, and crucially to hold those responsible to account.On 19 April, the UK also issued a statement on Nicaragua marking the fifth anniversary of the 2018 protests against the Ortega regime, and underlining UK and international concern. The UK continues to work with international partners to urge the Nicaraguan government to re-empower democratic institutions and re-establish democratic practices and freedoms in Nicaragua.

British Overseas Territories: Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department plans to (a) work with representatives of and (b) provide other support to the British Overseas Territories to celebrate the coronation of King Charles.

David Rutley: The Overseas Territories (OTs) are an integral part of the British family. Governors, Commissioners and elected leaders of the Overseas Territories have been invited to several Coronation events, where they will be supported by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The FCDO is in close contact with all of our OTs in the lead up to the Coronation of His Majesty King Charles III, and is providing advice and support related to the event where required.

Tristan da Cunha: Internet

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve internet connectivity on Tristan da Cunha.

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help improve access to Tristan da Cunha.

David Rutley: The FCDO provides funding to support Tristan da Cunha through Official Development Assistance, which in 2022-23 was valued at £1.5m. In addition, Tristan da Cunha benefits from funding from various programmes led by the FCDO, Defra and other UK Government departments. Internet access on Tristan da Cunha is provided through an FCDO satellite link and the island's communication needs are kept under regular review.Tristan da Cunha are currently taking steps to review the feasibility of a dedicated supply vessel. This work is considering vessel types and funding options. It is supported by the UK Government's Centre for Environment, Fisheries, and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) and their project partner Finance Earth.

Honduras: Emergency Powers

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Honduran counterpart on the extension of the state of emergency until October 2023.

David Rutley: A State of Exception was declared by the Honduran Government in November 2022 to combat gang-related extortion. I [Minister Rutley] visited Honduras on 18 April. During my visit, I discussed the security situation with Eduardo Reina, the Honduran Foreign Minister, and underlined the importance of a balance between the reduction of violent crime and the continued protection of human rights. I also highlighted this balance during my meeting with the Honduran Ambassador to the UK in January. Our Embassy in Guatemala City, which also covers Honduras, continues to monitor the situation closely, including the recent extension of the State of Emergency.

Cuba: Elections

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the outcome of the 2023 Cuban Parliamentary Elections.

David Rutley: The outcome of the 2023 Cuban Parliamentary Elections, and the re-election of President Diaz-Canal, have no implications on UK policy towards Cuba. The UK has a longstanding policy of engagement with Cuba; we collaborate positively in areas of mutual interest and talk frankly on matters where we are not in agreement.

Latin America: Indigenous Peoples

Fabian Hamilton: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps he is taking to support indigenous communities in Latin America.

David Rutley: The UK regularly engages with indigenous leaders and civil society organisations across Latin America, including through our embassies and Ministerial visits. For example, in Brazil we are supporting local and indigenous people in the Amazon through International Climate Finance (ICF) programmes and have invested nearly £120 million of ICF since 2012, benefitting 19,593 families so far. In Colombia, our Conflict, Stability and Security Fund (CSSF) programme has provided £69 million in support of peace agreement implementation, security, and stability in Colombia since 2015, and continues to prioritise funding interventions to protect indigenous communities.

Ukraine: Reconstruction

Kate Osamor: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department is taking steps to help increase the participation of (a) women's rights and (b) women-led organisations at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in June 2023.

Leo Docherty: We are keen to ensure that representation at the Ukraine Recovery Conference is from an inclusive and diverse range of participants. The UK is co-hosting the conference with the Government of Ukraine and we are working closely together on a guest list which includes civil society participation, including women-led organisations and those who advocate for women's rights.

Ministry of Justice

Domestic Abuse and Sexual Offences: Advisory Services

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the average cost to the public purse of appointing (a) an independent sexual violence adviser and (b) a domestic abuse adviser.

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) independent sexual violence advisers and (b) domestic abuse advisers there are in each crown court location.

Edward Argar: The Government does not centrally collate data on the average cost of appointing Independent Sexual Violence Advisors (ISVAs) and Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVAs). The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) collects information on the number of ISVA and IDVA posts funded by the Department through commissioning arrangements with local Police and Crime Commissioners (PCCs) to recruit ISVAs and IDVAs. It does not hold information on posts funded through other sources of funding such as other government departments, local authorities or third sector organisations and bodies. As such, it is not possible to provide an estimate on the total number of ISVA and IDVA posts nationally and indeed the average cost to the public purse. Some ISVAs work in multiple courts, according to their area or case load, and therefore this cannot be broken down to individual courts. The MoJ has committed ringfenced funding to increase the number of ISVAs and IDVAs funded by the department by 300 to over 1000 by 2024/25 - a 43% increase on the number of ISVAs and IDVAs over this spending review period (2022/23 to 2024/25 inclusive). For 2022/23, we provided £34 million of ringfenced funding for ISVAs and IDVAs. PCCs are required to report bi-annually to MoJ as part of grant funding arrangements.

Private Rented Housing: Evictions

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of abolishing section 21 eviction notices on the caseload of courts in England and Wales.

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department has made a recent assessment of the potential impact of giving renters the right to challenge rent increases on the caseload of the first-tier tribunal in England and Wales.

Damien Moore: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what (a) changes to processes and (b) increases in capacity would be required in the courts and tribunals system to implement the policies set out in the white paper entitled A fairer private rented sector, published on 16 June 2022, CP 693.

Mike Freer: The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is currently working to produce a Justice Impact Test (JIT) that will clarify the implications of repealing section 21 of the Housing Act, the new grounds for possession and the other measures detailed in the White Paper on case volumes, court processes and resources.A JIT is a mandatory specific impact test - undertaken as part of the wider impact assessment process - that considers the impact of government policy and legislative proposals on the justice system.

Probate

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 117447 on Probate, how many probate cases have been awaiting a decision for seven weeks or more.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 117447 on Probate, how many unassessed probate cases for which evidence has been received were awaiting a decision for longer than six weeks since evidence was received in each of the last six months.

Mr Barry Sheerman: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 16 January 2023 to Question 117447 on Probate, what recent steps he has taken to increase resources for HM Courts and Tribunals Service to reduce waiting times for probate cases.

Mike Freer: The number of probate cases that have been awaiting a decision for seven weeks or more is 9125 (December 2022). The number of unassessed probate cases for which evidence has been received that were awaiting a decision for longer than six weeks is in the table below: Unassessed over 62 WeeksJul-224,419Aug-226,090Sep-228,067Oct-228,331Nov-228,901Dec-229,873 1 The administration of probate applications is dealt with as a national service, covering England and Wales. The open caseload excludes cases older than 6 months.2 The time outstanding is counted from the application submission date recorded in the case management system, except for digital applications with a Will, where the date of receipt of the original Will by HMCTS is used. Since October 22 we have increased staffing resources in Probate by 42%, an increase of 75 staff after taking account of attrition, recruiting into Probate an additional 100 staff. Following a period of extensive training those additional staff are now being used bring down the overall timeliness on digital and paper applications and improve call handling times.

Rape: Greater London

Dr Matthew Offord: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps is he taking to increase the rate of prosecutions for rape cases in London.

Edward Argar: In June 2021, we published the End-to-End Rape Review Action Plan. The Action Plan set out an ambitious programme of work to drive improvements throughout the system and achieve better outcomes for victims, which will help to increase the rate of prosecutions for rape cases across the country.We also set our public ambition to return the number of adult rape cases referred, charged, and reaching court by the end of this Parliament to 2016 levels. We are on track to reach our ambition for all three metrics.To support improvements in London specifically, the London Metropolitan Police joined Operation Soteria, our flagship joint police and CPS programme which is working to transform the way that rape investigations are handled and progressed, in December 2021. We are also working with Snaresbrook Crown Court through our Specialist Sexual Violence Support project to improve the victim experience at the court stage. We have also provided £10.1m of ringfenced funding to MOPAC to commission sexual violence services to support victims at every stage of the criminal justice system.

Bail

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to section 240A of the Criminal Justice Act 2003, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ensure that time spent remanded on bail by offenders is not counted towards time served in cases in which a victim died as a result of the crime.

Edward Argar: The decision to remand an individual in custody or to grant bail is solely a matter for the courts acting in accordance with the Bail Act 1976.Time spent remanded on bail does not count towards time served unless, as a defendant, the offender was remanded on bail with an electronically monitored curfew of 9 hours or more per day. An electronically monitored curfew of 9 hours or over can result in a credit of half a day of custodial time. If compensation against time in custody is to be considered by the court following sentencing, they will need to be satisfied that the electronically monitored curfew was fully complied with on each day that is taken into account.

Sexual Offences: Victim Support Schemes

Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will make an estimate of the cost to the public purse of a free and independent legal advocate to support victims of sexual violence and abuse for one year.

Edward Argar: The Department is currently unable to make an estimate for costs in relation to a free and independent legal advocate to support victims as we are still considering the responses to a consultation that we undertook last year, which looked at ways to enhance legal support or advice for victims of rape or serious sexual assault regarding personal information requests.

Prison and Probation Service: Ethnic Groups

Janet Daby: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service is expected to meet its target of having the proportion of ethnic minority staff in senior leadership roles reflecting the working population as a whole by 2030.

Damian Hinds: The proportion of HMPPS Senior leaders (from Band 10 upwards) from an ethnic minority background has increased from 4.8% in December 2019 to 9.5% in 2022. HMPPS will continue to work towards the representation of ethnic minority senior staff to match the working age population by 2030.

Approved Premises

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many Approved Premises in England house (a) women and (b) men with a home address in Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many (a) women and (b) men with a home address in Wales are housed in Approved Premises.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the average distance between the Approved Premises and home address for (a) women and (b) men currently housed in Approved Premises in England with a home address in Wales.

Liz Saville Roberts: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the capacity of each Approved Premises in Wales; and how much of this capacity is in use as of 20 April 2023.

Damian Hinds: The 105 Approved Premises (AP) in England and Wales all accept offenders from either country. As there is no AP for women in Wales, any female offender from Wales requiring an AP placement would be accommodated in an AP in England. We endeavour to accommodate offenders who need an AP placement as close as possible to their home, but since a range of factors, including protection of victims, need to be taken into account, this is not always possible. When at full capacity, the four APs in Wales can accommodate 103 residents. As refurbishments are being undertaken, 14 places are currently unavailable. As of 20 April 2023, 78 offenders were resident in AP in Wales. As information about the home addresses of AP residents is not held centrally, it would not be possible to obtain figures on the number of residents with a home address in Wales or their average distance from home without incurring disproportionate cost.

Sentencing

James Wild: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans he has to bring forward measures to make a defendant’s refusal to appear in court for sentencing an aggravating factor judges can take into account.

Edward Argar: The Government fully appreciates that an offender’s refusal to attend their sentencing hearing can cause anger and upset for victims and their families. We are looking carefully at how best to address this issue so that offenders face up to their actions and victims can see justice being served.

Probate

John Spellar: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many probate cases are under consideration in England; and what proportion of those cases have been waiting for a decision for six weeks or more.

Mike Freer: There were 53,253 probate cases in the Open Caseload1 as at 31 December. Of those 30,656 were more than 6 weeks old1. Of the cases over six weeks old 13,536 were stopped, 7,247 were awaiting documentation and 9,873 were ready to progress.1 Data as at 31 December in line the official published stats. The administration of probate applications is dealt with as a national service, covering England and Wales. The open caseload excludes cases older than 6 months.2The time outstanding is counted from the application submission date recorded in the case management system, except for digital applications with a Will, where the date of receipt of the original Will by HMCTS is used.This data is management Information. The management information presented in this table reflects what is recorded on relevant case-management systems on the date of extraction. The case management systems are continually updated and so the information presented will differ from previously published information. Management information can differ from the quality assured MOJ official statistics, which form the agreed definitive position. Although care is taken when processing and analysing the data, the details are subject to inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale case management system and is the best data that is available.HMCTS has increased resources to meet the higher demand following an increased number of estates requiring probate and is further increasing resourcing to further bring down overall timeliness on digital and paper applications.The improvement of the online probate system remains a priority for HMCTS, to ensure more applications can be issued first time and resources can be focused on reducing waiting times.

Cabinet Office

Refugees: Afghanistan

John Healey: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Minister for Veterans Affairs’ responsibilities are for the (a) Afghan Relations and Assistance Policy and (b) Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme personnel and their families.

John Healey: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the oral contribution of 28 March 2023 by the Minister for Veterans Affairs on Afghan Resettlement Update, Official Report, column 847, on what date the Prime Minister asked the Minister to put together plans to end the practice of Afghan families living in bridging hotels.

Johnny Mercer: On 28 March, I set out the Government’s intention to increase our support to Afghans who have been resettled in the UK to access independent accommodation and thereby end the use of temporary bridging hotels for this cohort. Recognising that this will require a sustained cross-Government effort, on 2 February 2023, the Prime Minister asked me to lead on convening departments that are responsible for the delivery of this work from within the Cabinet Office. Secretaries of State and Ministers remain accountable for their respective policy briefs.

Prime Minister: Aviation

Emily Thornberry: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March to Question 169228 on Cabinet Office: Aviation, on how many occasions (a) the Prime Minister and (b) his predecessors travelled overseas on non-scheduled flights with members of (i) the media and (ii) business delegations in the travelling party since 1 January 2021.

Jeremy Quin: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Blood: Contamination

Jessica Morden: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the recommendations of the Second Interim Report of the Infected Blood Inquiry, published on 5 April 2023, if he will make it his policy to make immediate interim payments to (a) children and (b) bereaved parents of children who were given infected blood and infected blood products.

Jeremy Quin: I refer the honourable Member to the statement made on Wednesday 19 April 2023, in response to the publication of the Infected Blood Inquiry’s Second Interim Report.

New Businesses

Jim McMahon: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many (a) agriculture, (b) forestry and (c) fishing businesses were registered in (a) 2010, (b) 2015 and (c) 2020.

Jeremy Quin: The Cabinet Office has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Treasury

Pet Foods: VAT

Tim Loughton: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how much revenue was raised from VAT on pet food in each of the last 5 years.

Victoria Atkins: The information is not available. HMRC does not hold information on VAT revenue from specific products or services because businesses are not required to provide figures at a product level on their VAT returns, as this would impose an excessive administrative burden.

Universal Credit: National Insurance Contributions

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many Universal Credit claimants have paid voluntary national insurance contributions to cover their time claiming Universal Credit because those credits are not automatically transferred to the electronic National Insurance Recording System in the last year.

Victoria Atkins: HMRC does not hold information about the number of customers who have paid voluntary national insurance contributions (NICs) due to their National Insurance record not being updated with the credits they were due while claiming Universal Credit. If customers have paid voluntary NICs unnecessarily, they can be refunded once their record has been updated with their periods of Universal Credit. HMRC is aiming to have all customer NI records for years up to April 2023 updated by the end of the 2023-24 tax year.

Pigmeat: Overseas Trade

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tonnes of pig meat were (a) imported to the UK and (b) exported from the UK in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff.  Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff. The meat of swine falls under heading 0203 when frozen, fresh or chilled. Items containing prepared meat, for example sausages are listed in heading 16XX. The amount of swine meat exported from and imported to the UK for the last five years is available from the above uktradeinfo website.

Bank Services

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of access to (a) cash and (b) banking services in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England; and what steps he is taking to ensure adequate access to (i) cash and (ii) banking services in those areas in the next five years.

Andrew Griffith: The way consumers and businesses interact with their banks and make payments is changing, bringing significant benefits to those who choose to opt for the convenience, security, and speed of digital services. Nonetheless, the government recognises that cash continues to be used by millions of people across the UK, and is currently legislating to protect access to cash as part of the Financial Services and Markets Bill. The Bill will establish the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as the lead regulator for access to cash and provide it with appropriate powers to seek to ensure reasonable provision of withdrawal and deposit facilities. Based on data published by LINK for February 2023, there are 31,873 free-to-use ATMs in England, including 3,431 in the West Midlands and 72in the constituency of Coventry, North East. Further information is available at: https://www.link.co.uk/initiatives/financial-inclusion-monthly-report/ The government also believes that everyone, wherever they live, should have appropriate access to banking services. Decisions on opening and closing branches, and the provision of in-person services, are a commercial matter for banks and building societies. However, guidance from the FCA sets out its expectation of firms when they are deciding to reduce their physical branches or the number of free-to-use ATMs. The FCA expects firms to put in place alternatives, where this is reasonable, to ensure customer needs are met. Where firms fall short of expectations, the FCA may ask for closures to be paused or other options to be put in place.

Experian: Disclosure of Information

Caroline Nokes: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what redress is available to energy customers who dispute the accuracy of information provided to Experian by energy companies.

Andrew Griffith: Information on a credit report should be purely factual. For example, if a consumer has incurred arrears with an energy company that shares information with Credit Reference Agencies (CRAs), then these arrears will have been recorded on the consumer’s credit report. If a consumer believes that an item on their credit report is inaccurate, they can raise a dispute with the CRA they received their report from, or with the organisation that supplied the information. If an organisation fails to correct any inaccuracies with the information that they have supplied to a CRA, a consumer can make a complaint to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO). The ICO is the UK's independent body set up to uphold information rights, and it enforces the Data Protection Act. The ICO can tell organisations such as energy companies to help resolve a consumer’s complaint, including requiring an organisation to correct any inaccuracies. The ICO cannot award compensation, even when it gives an opinion that an organisation has broken data protection law. However, consumers have a right to claim compensation from an organisation if they have suffered damage as a result of it breaking data protection law. This includes both material damage, for example where a consumer has lost money, or non-material damage, for example where a consumer has suffered distress. They can do this by contacting the organisation directly or by making a claim in court.

First Time Buyers: Mortgages

Jim Shannon: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to support first time buyers with attaining mortgages.

Andrew Griffith: The Government remains committed to making the aspiration of homeownership a reality for as many households as possible. The Government operates a range of schemes that aim to increase the supply of low-deposit mortgages for credit-worthy households, including first-time buyers, and stimulate economic growth. This includes the Mortgage Guarantee Scheme, which is open until the end of 2023. The Government also helps first-time buyers to save for a deposit through the Lifetime ISA and Help to Buy: ISA. Over 829,000 households have been helped to purchase a home since Spring 2010 through Government-backed schemes, with the annual number of first-time buyers at a 20-year high in 2021.

Sovereign Wealth Funds: St Kitts and Nevis

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is providing support for the development of a sovereign wealth fund by St Kitts and Nevis.

Andrew Griffith: HM Treasury is not providing any support for the development of a sovereign wealth fund by St Kitts and Nevis.

Debt Collection: Regulation

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will review the effectiveness of existing regulations relating to debt collection agencies for (a) vulnerable people and (b) financially insecure people.

Andrew Griffith: The independent Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is responsible for the regulation of debt collection activity. Where debt collection firms take steps to recover debts that have arisen under consumer credit agreements, they are required to do so according to the FCA’s principles, rules and guidance. In particular, firms are required to treat customers fairly and to have policies in place for the fair and appropriate treatment of vulnerable customers. Additional requirements apply in relation to the recovery of debt from customers with mental capacity limitations. The FCA has published guidance for firms on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers. In 2023-24, the FCA plans to evaluate the action firms have taken and whether we see improvements in the outcomes experienced by vulnerable consumers. The guidance can be found in the link below: https://www.fca.org.uk/publications/finalised-guidance/guidance-firms-fair-treatment-vulnerable-customers In addition, earlier this year the FCA wrote to all firms operating in this sector to set out their expectations of how firms should provide a higher standard of care to customers in the context of the Consumer Duty. The letter can be found in the link below: https://www.fca.org.uk/publication/correspondence/consumer-duty-portfolio-letter-dpca.pdf The Consumer Duty builds on the FCA’s guidance on the fair treatment of vulnerable customers – that sets out what firms should do to ensure that customers in vulnerable circumstances experience outcomes as good as those for other customers.  Falling below the standard set out in that guidance is likely to be a breach of the Consumer Duty. There are no plans either by the Government or the FCA to review legislation or existing FCA requirements in this area. But the FCA will continue to monitor the activities of debt collection firms, including the steps they have taken to ensure they are compliant with the Consumer Duty, in accordance with their usual supervisory processes.

Eastern Caribbean Central Bank: Cryptocurrencies

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department is providing support for the development of a digital currency by the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank.

Andrew Griffith: HM Treasury is not providing support to the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank on its development of a digital currency.

Health Insurance: Taxation

Daniel Kawczynski: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if his Department will review the  level of insurance tax for private health insurance.

Andrew Griffith: The revenue raised from IPT helps the Government to fund public services, including the NHS and social care. Reform leading to any loss in tax revenue would have to be balanced by a reduction in public spending, increased borrowing or increased taxation elsewhere.Given this, there are currently no plans to change the IPT treatment of medical insurance, however, all taxes are kept under review and the views expressed to us are carefully considered as part of the Budget process.

Safe Hands Plans: Insolvency

Hilary Benn: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department was aware of concerns about the solvency of Safe Hands funeral plan prior to that company going into administration.

Andrew Griffith: During a wide-ranging meeting with industry in July 2017 to discuss pre-paid funeral plans, some concerns about Safe Hands Plans were raised with HM Treasury. In response, officials advised that such concerns should be reported to the Financial Conduct Authority, reflecting the fact that HM Treasury has no investigatory or enforcement powers of its own.

Financial Services Compensation Scheme

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make a statement on plans to update the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the Financial Conduct Authority’s Feedback Statement on the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment he has made of the costs to businesses of the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and similar schemes in other leading financial centres.

Andrew Griffith: Under the Financial Services and Markets Act (FSMA) 2000, the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) are each responsible for making rules in relation to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The PRA is responsible for rules relating to claims in connection with deposits and insurance provision. The FCA is responsible for claims in connection with all other relevant types of financial services activities that are protected by the FSCS. As part of its responsibilities, the PRA is responsible for setting the depositor coverage limit, which is currently set at £85,000. The PRA has a statutory duty to review this limit regularly, with the next review due by 2025 at the latest. Any change to the limit must be approved by HM Treasury and would therefore be carefully considered by the government. The FCA is currently reviewing the FSCS compensation framework for areas it is responsible for. In its Feedback Statement published in December 2022, it committed to a number of actions including plans to assess the scope of FSCS coverage, review the current compensation limits and review the current funding class thresholds. Under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, the PRA and FCA are also required to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to ensure the compensation schemes managed by FSCS continue to reflect the total value of the claims made or likely to be made.Both the PRA and FCA would use such assessments in forming its overall judgement on forming rules in relation to the FSCS.

Mortgages: Arrears

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in the cost of living on the number of households in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England that have fallen into arrears with their mortgage provider.

Andrew Griffith: Mortgage arrears levels remain at historically low levels. According to the latest UK Finance data, there were 75,170 homeowner mortgages in arrears at the end of December 2022, 6% fewer than in the same period in the previous year. Where mortgage borrowers do fall in financial difficulty, Financial Conduct Authority guidance requires firms to offer tailored support. This could include a range of measures depending on individual circumstances. The Government has also taken a number of measures aimed at helping people to avoid repossession, including Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) loans for those in receipt of an income-related benefit, and protection in the courts through the Pre-Action Protocol, which makes it clear that repossession must always be the last resort for lenders.

Fortified Wines: Excise Duties

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing an easement for fortified wines that are made from fresh grapes after 1 August 2023.

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will take steps to support importers of fortified wine importers.

Gareth Davies: The Government introduced the easement for wine from fresh grapes for wines between 11.5% and 14.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) as producers of wines in this range face unique administrative burdens due to the seasonal variability of the ABV of their product. The new alcohol duty system will provide a simpler and more consistent duty regime for producers and importers. Fortified wines have benefitted from duty freezes at four out of the last five fiscal events. The Government has also committed to evaluating the policy and its impacts after implementation.

Wines: Excise Duties

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential effect of increases in the level of alcohol duty on international wine trading in the UK.

Gareth Davies: The Government published a Tax Information and Impact Note setting out the assessment of impacts from changes to the duty rates made at the Spring Budget 2023. The wine industry has benefitted from freezes at 4 out of the last 5 fiscal events. As with all taxes, the Government keeps the alcohol duty system under review and welcomes representations from stakeholders to inform policy development.

Public Sector: Strikes

Dr Liam Fox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the impact of public sector strikes on UK GDP in each month since August 2022.

Andrew Griffith: As the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have noted, it is not possible to precisely isolate the impact of strike action on GDP from other factors across the wider economy.The Government remains committed to minimising the disruption caused by strike action and encouraging the resolution of industrial disputes as quickly as reasonably possible.The Government will listen to all unions who are willing to discuss what is fair and reasonable – recognising the vital role public sector workers play but also the wider economic pressures facing the UK. As a condition for talks, we expect unions to call off any planned strike action.For example, following intensive talks between the Government and Agenda for Change unions, the Government have put forward a fair and generous pay offer which Agenda for Change unions are now balloting their members on, with most unions recommending that their members vote to accept.

Financial Services: Regulation

Alun Cairns: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, when the Government plans to deliver a consolidated tape of pre- and post-trade market data as considered in the Edinburgh Reforms.

Andrew Griffith: As set out in the Chancellor’s Edinburgh Reforms statement, the government has committed to having a regime for a UK consolidated tape in place by 2024.

Cryptocurrencies

Danny Kruger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the introduction of a central bank digital currency on the commercial banking sector.

Danny Kruger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the introduction of a central bank digital currency on deposit outflows for commercial banks.

Danny Kruger: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of the introduction of a central bank digital currency on retail funding for commercial banks.

Andrew Griffith: In February 2023, HM Treasury and the Bank of England published a joint consultation on a UK central bank digital currency (CBDC). The consultation noted that a UK CBDC, or ‘digital pound’, is likely to be needed in the future. However, a final decision has not yet been made and will be informed by this consultation and future work.As part of this consultation period, HM Treasury and the Bank of England will carefully consider how the digital pound could impact the commercial banking sector, as well as any potential deposit outflows and any substantial shift in retail banks’ funding models.A response to this consultation will be issued in due course.

Meat: Overseas Trade

Ben Lake: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many tonnes of beef and veal were (a) imported to the UK and (b) exported from the UK in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK. HMRC releases this information monthly, as a National Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com). Classification codes (according to the Harmonised System) are available to assist in accessing published trade statistics data in the UK Global Tariff.  Goods moving to and from the UK are identified by an eight-digit commodity code. These are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff. Beef and veal fall within headings 0201 and 0202 dependant on whether the beef is fresh/chilled or frozen. The full commodity codes would depend on the specific cuts of beef.  Items containing prepared meat, for example sausages are listed in heading 16XX. The amount of beef and veal exported from and imported to the UK for the last five years is available from the above uktradeinfo website.

Unpaid Taxes

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165453 on Taxation: Fines, how many penalties issued by HM Revenue and Customs which are recorded on the National Penalty Processing System for Inaccuracies within returns or documents amounted to less than £1,000 in each of the last five years.

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165453 on Taxation: Fines, how many penalties issued by HM Revenue and Customs which are recorded on the National Penalty Processing System for Inaccuracies within returns or documents amounted to £1,000 to £9,999 in each of the last five years.

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165453 on Taxation: Fines, how many penalties issued by HM Revenue and Customs which are recorded on the National Penalty Processing System for Inaccuracies within returns or documents amounted to £10,000 to £99,999 in each of the last five years.

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165453 on Unpaid Taxes, how many and what proportion of penalties issued by HM Revenue and Customs recorded on the National Penalty Processing System for inaccuracies within returns or documents amounted to £100,000 to £999,999 in each of the last five years.

James Murray: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 22 March 2023 to Question 165453 on Unpaid Taxes, how many and what proportion of penalties issued by HM Revenue and Customs recorded on the National Penalty Processing System for inaccuracies within returns or documents amounted to £1,000,000 or above in each of the last five years.

Victoria Atkins: The National Penalty Processing System (NPPS) is used by HMRC to record certain types of information, in particular penalties for: Inaccuracies within returns and documentsFailure to NotifyDeliberate Withholding of Information NPPS is a standalone system for these purposes only. It is not used to record all penalties charged by HMRC across all of its compliance or wider activities. We have interpreted your request as relating to the penalties charged for Inaccuracies within returns and documents only. The total penalties recorded on NPPS for inaccuracies within returns and document per penalty case in each of the relevant years are:  2017/182018/192019/202020/212021/22Total57,49438,82024,24418,90531,902 As stated above, the NPPS does not record all penalties charged by HMRC, and these figures should not be taken to represent a complete picture of HMRC compliance activity. Every year, HMRC collect and protect billions of pounds of tax revenue that would otherwise have been lost to the Exchequer through error, fraud, or other forms of non-compliance.

Department for Work and Pensions

Carers: Parents

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps the Government plans to take to support parent carers of disabled children with returning to work.

Tom Pursglove: Our Work Coaches already offer employment support to people claiming welfare benefits, who are carers of disabled children. Any work related requirements and support should be tailored to a claimant’s individual circumstances and capabilities, including their caring responsibilities. Support could include access to skills provision, careers advice, job search support and volunteering opportunities, as well as access to the Flexible Support Fund to aid job entry, and help with childcare costs. Work Coaches can tailor the frequency of interviews and can contact claimants via phone or use the on-line journal to accommodate their caring responsibilities. Full time carers of severely disabled children are not required to undertake any work-related activities, but can seek support on a voluntary basis if they wish. Additionally, Universal Credit claimants who start work may be able to access the UC Work Allowance and Taper, enabling them to keep more of what they earn.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to his Department's prior information notice of 5 April on Additional Healthcare Capacity, reference 2023/S 000-009884, fow what reason additional capacity is required.

Tom Pursglove: This contract replaces an existing contract, which is coming to an end. The Health Transformation Programme is developing a new Health Assessment Service through our Health Transformation Area. This is a controlled safe environment where we can develop the service at small scale, exploring ideas from claimants, stakeholders and DWP staff. The healthcare professionals who deliver WCA and PIP assessments within the Health Transformation Area, are directly employed by the DWP. The new contract provides additional healthcare professionals, providing us with the flexibility to supplement the capacity as required to ensure we can continue to provide a stable service to meet the needs of claimants and to continue to test and build the new service.

Employment Schemes: Chronic Illnesses and Disability

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when his Department plans to open the Universal Support scheme for applications; and if he will publish the eligibility criteria for that scheme.

Tom Pursglove: Universal Support will begin in 2024 and will provide up to 12 months of high-quality Supported Employment, which adheres to the five stage Supported Employment Model of place, train and maintain. Universal Support will support disabled people, people with health conditions, and people with additional barriers to employment, into sustained work.  Full eligibility criteria and the timetable and delivery approach for Universal Support will be confirmed following stakeholder engagement, including with local commissioners and the devolved administrations.

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the report entitled The sanctions surge: Shining a light on the universal credit sanctions regime, published in March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of the finding that people in the North East are over 30 per cent more likely to be sanctioned than someone in the South West; and what steps he is taking to ensure that sanctions are applied consistently.

Guy Opperman: The claimant commitment is agreed between the claimant and the work coach, and it is based on the claimant’s particular circumstancesWhere a referral for a sanction is made, an independent Decision Maker will fully consider the claimant’s individual circumstances and look at any evidence of good reason before determining whether a sanction should be applied.

Universal Credit

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of reviewing the level at which Universal Credit is set with reference to the prices of essential items.

Amy Callaghan: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the level of Universal Credit to enable claimants to meet the cost of essential items.

Guy Opperman: There is no objective way of deciding what an adequate level of benefit should be as every person has different requirements. Income-related benefit rates are not made up of separate amounts for specific items of expenditure such as food or fuel charges, and beneficiaries are free to spend their benefit as they see fit, in the light of their individual commitments, needs and preferences. The Government is increasing support for low income and vulnerable households with welfare expenditure forecast to rise from £275.6 billion in 2022/23 to £289.4 billion in 2023/24. The Spring Statement made clear, the focus is supporting workforce participation, helping people move into work and higher earnings.

Poverty: Children

Colleen Fletcher: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the number of children living in poverty in (a) Coventry North East constituency, (b) Coventry, (c) the West Midlands and (d) England.

Mims Davies: Latest statistics for the levels of children who are in low income in the Coventry North East constituency and Coventry are published in “Children in Low Income Families”, and can be found here. National and regional statistics on the number and percentage of children in low income are published annually in the “Households Below Average Income” publication, and can be found here. Due to methodological differences, the figures in these two publications are not comparable.

Employment Schemes: Visual Impairment

Marsha De Cordova: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the capabilities of the Universal Support scheme to support blind and partially sighted people to find and retain employment.

Tom Pursglove: Universal Support is a supported employment programme which will support disabled people, people with health conditions, and people with additional barriers, to employment into sustained work. Universal Support will include help for the individual to address issues like debt, manage their health condition and help employers to put in place job shaping or other adjustments to accommodate the individual’s needs. Through Universal Support, more disabled people will have access to this ‘Place, Train and Maintain’ approach to employment support. This means placing participants in work at the earliest opportunity, training them to do their job effectively, and providing ongoing support to sustain them in work. That job placement will be based on a good understanding of what the participant wants to achieve, and the employer and participant receiving support through the recruitment process and into the workplace to sustain that employment. Supported employment programmes have a history of enabling people with a range of health conditions and disabilities into work, including people with visual impairments. For example, Individual Placement and Support (IPS) has been delivered across the world with positive impacts. The DWP-commissioned health-led trials showed that this kind of employment support can be effective when delivered to people with a range of physical and mental health conditions. Other trials of IPS have also repeatedly demonstrated the ability of supported employment to make a positive impact on employment outcomes. The scope of the programme’s support and the timetable and delivery approach for Universal Support will be confirmed following stakeholder engagement including with organisations with expertise in supported employment and provision for disabled people.

Menopause: Employment

Jim Shannon: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to support women with menopausal symptoms to stay in employment.

Mims Davies: On 6 March, DWP appointed Helen Tomlinson as the Government’s Menopause Employment Champion. Her role will be to work with employers and sectors to drive awareness of the issues faced by those experiencing menopause symptoms; encouraging employers to develop policies that create a more supportive environment to help these women stay in work and progress. The Women’s Health Strategy has menopause as a priority, and the UK wide Menopause task force will take a holistic approach to menopause care from healthcare to workplace support and education, enabling national coverage which will provide benefits at a local level.

Department for Work and Pensions: Telephone Services

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps he is taking to increase the (a) efficiency and (b) accessibility of telephone services provided by his Department.

Mims Davies: As part of DWP’s Service Modernisation programme, the Modernising and Transforming Telephony Project was formed. The project is looking at technologies available to improve and support DWP’s future telephony demand. User research from customers, agents and providers is at the centre of their design and build approach. The first enhancement will involve the introduction of ‘DWP’s Virtual Agent’’ this will support customers through their telephony journey and best determine how to respond or help with their enquiry. The objective of this technology is route calls to the right person or support available at the right time and providing a better overall customer experience than now. Starting with Universal Credit; we then plan to introduce this technology further over the next 3 years*. In terms of accessibility, this technology has been fully approved to standards required and will not replace, but complement the pre-existing support available for those customers who require it such as Relay UK and Video Relay Service.

Employment and Support Allowance: Overpayments

Drew Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what data his Department holds on whether the recovery of Employment Support Allowance overpayments from claimants has been waived for mental health reasons in the last two years.

Tom Pursglove: During the period 1st April 2021 to date, 10 Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) debts were waived on mental health grounds. The figures relate to legacy ESA and not New Style ESA, eligibility for which is primarily based on a claimant’s National Insurance record.Overpayment recovery is subject to various legislative limitations and safeguards. Whilst the DWP has an obligation to protect public funds, our policy is to seek recovery without causing undue financial hardship to debtors.Any claimants struggling with the proposed rate of deductions are encouraged to contact DWP Debt Management to discuss a temporary reduction in their rate of repayment.In exceptional circumstances, where there are specific and compelling grounds to do so, a waiver can be considered. Full details on this can be found at Chapter 8 of the department’s Benefit Overpayment Recovery Guide:Benefit overpayment recovery guide - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Employment Schemes: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 167120 on Employment Schemes: Disability, if he will take steps to work with disability (a) charities and (b) groups on the development of the universal support programme.

Tom Pursglove: We will engage with a wide range of key stakeholders, including the Trailblazer areas, local areas, employers, providers, and experts in delivery of ‘place and train’ support on Universal Support. This will include charities and groups who support people with disabilities, and we welcome their views on how best to deliver Universal Support. This engagement will commence very soon for initial expert views and ideas on the design of the support and how together we might best help eligible people to find and sustain employment.

Children: Maintenance

Daniel Zeichner: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will amend the Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012 to ensure that Article 69a will only apply as a last resort when the non-resident parent is not making maintenance payments through PAYE and other unearned income (such as rental income) and it can be shown that the resident parent cannot meet the needs for the child.

Mims Davies: The purpose of the asset variation, covered by regulation 69A of The Child Support Maintenance Calculation Regulations 2012, is to ensure that where paying parents are receiving income from assets, that this is taken into account in the child maintenance calculation. Either parent may apply for a variation at any time during the life of their case. If a variation is implemented, the maintenance calculation will be adjusted accordingly to accurately reflect their circumstances. CMS would take income received from assets into account even if the paying parent is paying maintenance according to their PAYE income. Child maintenance liabilities are calculated based on the taxable income and assets of the paying parent and represent an amount of money that is broadly commensurate with the amount a paying parent would spend on the child if they were still living with them. The income of the receiving parent is not used in the calculation, and the paying parent has a responsibility to support their child regardless of the receiving parent’s financial circumstances. There are no plans to change the circumstances in which the asset variation could be used.

Members: Correspondence

David Linden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when he plans to respond to email correspondence of 22 February, 22 March and 5 April 2023 from the hon. Member for Glasgow East, reference MC2023/14561.

Mims Davies: A reply to the correspondence from the hon. Member was sent on 21 April.

Department for Work and Pensions: Standards

Vicky Foxcroft: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the policy paper entitled Transforming Support: The Health and Disability White Paper published on 15 March 2023, what steps the Department has taken to consult with disabled people when working to improve the accessibility of the Department's customer forms.

Tom Pursglove: Through the consultation on Shaping Future Support: The Health and Disability Green Paper, we received over 4,500 written responses and held over 40 consultation events with disabled people, people with health conditions, and their representatives. We develop and test forms with disabled people and the organisations that represent them, and act on user feedback to improve accessibility. Following publication of the White Paper, we will continue to work with disabled people and their representatives to ensure their voices remain at the heart of delivering action and how we develop, deliver and reach the important goals set out in our White Paper.

Local Housing Allowance

Claire Hanna: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if his Department will make an assessment on the potential merits of removing the freeze on the local housing allowance rates in the context of the level of inflation and affordability of renting in city areas.

Mims Davies: The Local Housing Allowance policy is kept under regular review. We monitor average rents and housing support levels provided to claimants to assess the impact of the policy and the merits of any potential changes prior to a fiscal event. Any assessment made is always within the context of the economic landscape at the time and considers demographic groups or areas which may be particularly impacted. In April 2020 Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates were raised to the 30th percentile of local market rents, a significant investment of almost £1 billion. Since then, we have maintained the increase so that everyone who benefited from the increase continues to do so. LHA rates are not intended to cover all rents in all areas. For those who require additional support, Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) are available from local authorities. DHPs can be paid to those in receipt of qualifying housing support who face a shortfall in meeting their rental housing costs. These payments are entirely at the discretion of the Local Authority and since 2011 the Government has provided nearly £1.6 billion to local authorities for households who need additional support with their housing costs.

Jobcentres: Disability

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will take steps to install assistive technology for disabled people in jobcentres.

Guy Opperman: This is already happening, we now have over 7,981 devices, for dedicated use by customers, across our Jobcentre estate which have in-built accessibility features. We also constantly review the number of computers available and have capacity to increase the number of devices quickly, if the need arises. The software in use on these machines is continually upgraded as and when required to ensure their continued use for customers. In addition to this further support is available to customers where reasonable adjustments are identified and recorded. Each Jobcentre District Office has been provided with the following items for use by customers if requested: a keyboard with larger keys;a large trackball mouse; andheadphones, however, many people will want to use their own. We have opened a number of temporary sites across the estate to support delivery of face-to-face public services. As part of this work, Customer Computers are also available in these sites. We have also improved access to our Wi-Fi services in all Jobcentres, allowing customers to use their own personal devices if they prefer, to access internet services.

Restart Scheme

Rachael Maskell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of using the Restart scheme to provide support for people unemployed for more than 12 months.

Guy Opperman: The Restart scheme is contracted to provide support for long-term unemployed people for up to 12 months. First referrals to the Restart Scheme began in July 2021 with an initial focus on those who had been on Universal Credit in the Intensive Work Search (IWS) Regime for between 12 and 18 months.In early 2022, the scheme expanded to Universal Credit claimants in IWS for 9 months with no upper limit and to claimants who are in receipt of Income Based Jobseekers Allowance.

Universal Credit: Free School Meals

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the number of households claiming Universal Credit that will exceed the £7,400 annual earnings limit for free school meals as a result of (a) the increase in April 2023 of the national living wage to £10.42 an hour and (b) the extension of the individual Administrative Earnings Threshold in January 2023 to £617 a month.

Guy Opperman: No assessment has been made.

Social Security Benefits: Disqualification

Charlotte Nichols: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to the findings of the report entitled The Impact of Benefit Sanctions on Employment Outcomes: draft report, published by his Department on 6 April 2023, on the impact of benefit sanctions on helping people into work, if he will take steps to end the use of (a) conditional welfare arrangements for disabled people and (b) benefit sanctions to encourage disabled people into work.

Guy Opperman: The requirements placed on a claimant within their Claimant Commitment are tailored to take into account an individual’s circumstances and capability and are designed to give claimants the best possible prospects of achieving their goal. We have no plans to end the use of conditional welfare arrangements or sanctions for disabled people where it is appropriate. Conditionality is personalised and tailored to produce the best outcome for each individual and sanctions are only ever applied when a claimant fails to meet their agreed conditionality requirements without good reason. Significant numbers of disabled people are already not subject to conditionality requirements, including claimants in the No Work Related Requirements Group.

Employment: Disability

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department is taking steps to provide training to (a) work coaches and (b) disability employment advisors on the barriers to employment faced by disabled people.

Tom Pursglove: The DWP Work Coaches undergo comprehensive learning to support customers with additional or complex needs, particularly disabilities, and they continue to build on this in the workplace through accessing point of need learning products. The learning provides Work Coaches with the knowledge and skills to enable them to:Treat each claimant as an individual;To be aware and support claimants with their disability and the impacts of their condition;Help overcome any barriers; andSupport them into moving closer to the working environment. Learning includes a number of training courses that cover disability awareness:Becoming Disability Confident - seeing past the misconceptions that can exist around disabilities and being able to have open, honest and well-informed conversations with disabled colleagues in order to create, or contribute to, an inclusive work environment in which disabled colleagues can thrive;Helping Customers who need additional support – working with customers who need additional support, either because they are in a vulnerable situation, are disabled, or suggest suicide or self-harm, requires additional customer service skills; andVulnerable Customers and Complex Needs. Within the DWP, the Disability Employment Advisor (DEA) role are expected to have completed the Work Coach Learning Journey prior to commencing specific learning for the DEA role, which provides them with further skills to support specific needs, enabling claimants to progress towards employment and making opportunities more accessible.

Employment Schemes: Disability

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 21 March 2023 to Question 167120 on Employment Schemes: Disability, what new specialist support will be available to disabled jobseekers through the universal support programme.

Tom Pursglove: Universal Support will deliver a national programme using the proven supported employment approach. A number of localities already have experience of delivering this approach, for example, through the Local Supported Employment Programme and through Individual Placement and Support in Primary Care. Through Universal Support, more disabled people will have access to the this ‘Place, Train and Maintain’ approach to employment support. This means placing participants in work at the earliest opportunity, training them to do their job effectively and providing ongoing support to sustain them in work. That job placement will be based on a good understanding of what the participant wants to achieve, and the employer and participant receiving support through the recruitment process and into the workplace to sustain that employment. Support will be tailored to the participant’s needs and could include help for the individual to address issues like debt, manage their health condition and help employers to put in place job shaping or other adjustments to accommodate the individual’s needs. We will work with providers and local areas to ensure the appropriate support is available to participants.

Social Security Benefits: Medical Examinations

Jonathan Ashworth: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what guidance is provided to health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for (a) Personal Independence Payment assessments (b) Work Capability Assessments.

Tom Pursglove: The department publishes guidance for health professionals who have been asked to provide medical evidence for Personal Independence Payment assessments and Work Capability Assessments, on GOV.UK.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Tonia Antoniazzi: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of establishing an alternative disputes resolution process for people affected by changes in state pension age for women.

Laura Trott: The equalisation of State Pension age has been the policy of successive governments dating back to 1995. The Ombudsman’s investigation is ongoing and section 7(2) of the Parliamentary Commissioner Act 1967 states that Ombudsman investigations “shall be conducted in private”. This is a multi-staged process, and the Ombudsman has not given his final findings on the investigation. We are cooperating with the Ombudsman’s investigation.

Department for Transport

M60: Litter

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he has received any information from National Highways about the cleanliness standards of the M60 embankments, carriageways, hard shoulders, slip roads and junctions between the River Tame and Junction 23.

Mr Richard Holden: Three separate litter picks have been undertaken on this section of the M60 since the beginning of February with 65 bags of litter and 8 large pieces of debris removed. National Highways’ most recent assessment of cleanliness within this area was made on 18 April 2023 with another planned for 25 April 2023.

Bicycles and Electric Vehicles: Safety

Daisy Cooper: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to the Answer of 27 February to Question 150416 on Bicycles and Electric Vehicles: Safety, whether he plans for those regulations to include provision for the use of electric bikes operated with a hand throttle for people who are unable to use peddles due to disability.

Jesse Norman: The Second Cycling and Walking Investment Strategy, published in 2022, reaffirmed the Department’s commitment to making walking, wheeling and cycling the natural choice for millions more journeys. Equal access for disabled people is at the heart of this and the Department is keeping the prospect of changes to regulations on electric bikes operated with a hand throttle (known as “twist and go”) under review. In the meantime, it may be helpful to clarify that twist and go e-cycles are legal to use on the roads provided that they have been through a “type approval” process to ensure that they comply with various technical standards.

Fleetwood Line

Cat Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what plans he has to reopen the Poulton-le-Fylde to Fleetwood railway line.

Huw Merriman: Network Rail has recently concluded the latest phase of development work for the Fleetwood to Poulton project, as part of the wider Restoring Your Railway programme. An updated Strategic Outline Business Case is now with the Department for consideration.

Roads: Repairs and Maintenance

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to (a) improve road quality and (b) reduce the number of potholes.

Mr Richard Holden: The Government is investing more than £5.5 billion between 2020 and 2025 into local highways maintenance, which is enough to fill millions of potholes, repair dozens of bridges, and resurface roads up and down the country. It is up to local authorities to determine how best to spend this funding, based on local needs and priorities. Well-planned maintenance to prevent potholes and other defects from forming in the first place is vital, and the Department has worked with groups including the UK Roads Leadership Group and the Association of Directors, for Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport (ADEPT) to raise standards and encourage good practice in highway maintenance. In 2019, Government provided £22.9 million into the ADEPT Live Labs programme, empowering local authorities to drive innovation, use new materials, and create new techniques for highways that can be deployed throughout the country’s local road network. This research programme concluded in June 2022.  Based on the success of this previous programme, Government is now supporting a second round of Live Labs (‘Live Labs 2’). The Government has provided £30 million for seven carbon and climate change-related projects working across four interconnected thematic areas including a UK centre of excellence for materials. These are being led by local authorities working alongside commercial and academic partners.

Motorways: Fly-tipping and Litter

Andrew Gwynne: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether he monitors the performance of National Highways in the North West on keeping strategic highways land free from litter or tipping.

Mr Richard Holden: The second Road Investment Strategy (2020-25) includes a litter performance indicator, in line with the Code of practice on litter and refuse published by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA). National Highways is committed to reporting against this performance indicator and the Department, alongside the independent Highways Monitor (Office for Rail and Road), regularly monitor performance against this litter indicator and discuss with National Highways how performance can continuously be improved. Performance is monitored at a national level across the whole of the Strategic Road Network rather than a focus on any specific region.

British Transport Police: Logos

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what steps his Department is taking to update the logo of the British Transport Police with the Tudor Crown.

Huw Merriman: Unlike the Metropolitan police, the British Transport Police (BTP) logo does not use the whole Royal Cypher. Official guidance states that the only items which currently require a new logo are those that use the Royal Cypher in its entirety. It also states that the decision to replace cyphers will be at the discretion of individual organisations. However, BTP are awaiting further guidance from the Cabinet Office and the Royal Household. Should the force be required to update its logo, the current guidance stipulates that it would be able to do so in a gradual and cost-efficient manner.

Active Travel: Greater Manchester

Afzal Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what funding he is providing for (a) walking, (b) wheeling and (c) cycling in Greater Manchester in financial year 2023-24.

Jesse Norman: In February 2023, Active Travel England announced £200 million of funding to local authorities for active travel infrastructure. Allocations to individual local authorities will be announced later in 2023. In addition, Greater Manchester Combined Authority is receiving £1.07 billion between 2022 and 2027 through the Department’s City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS), of which £215.5m will be paid in the financial year of 2023-24. The funding will deliver improvements to local transport networks, including investment in active travel infrastructure. As set out in the written ministerial statement made by the Secretary of State on 9 March 2023, the Government will invest at least a further £100 million of capital funding for active travel during this spending review period. This will include funding for local authorities such as the Greater Manchester Combined Authority.

Leader of the House

Members: Correspondence

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Leader of the House, when she plans to respond to correspondence from the right hon. Member for North Durham of 24 March 2023 on ministerial contact information provided to Members of Parliament.

Penny Mordaunt: Parliament has a right to hold Ministers to account and it is vital that departments provide accurate contact information to Members of Parliament. A response to the right hon. Member for North Durham’s letter of the 24th March 2023 has now been provided.

Department for Business and Trade

Department for Business and Trade: Appreciate Group

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to her Department's data entitled BEIS: spending over £500, December 2022, for what purpose her Department spent (a) £3256.87 at Appreciate Group Plc on 2 December 2022, (b) £7792.37 at Appreciate Group Plc on 7 December 2022, (c) £2364.25 at Appreciate Group Plc on 7 December 2022 and (d) £2364.25 at Appreciate Group Plc on 22 December 2022.

Nigel Huddleston: The expenditure with Appreciate Group Plc was for the supply of non-cash award vouchers for the Department. These vouchers support the Department’s performance management reward process.

Department for Business and Trade: Appreciate Group

Seema Malhotra: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, with reference to data on BEIS: ePCS spending over £500 for November 2022, published on 18 April 2023, for what purpose her Department spent (a) £4,173.62 on 1 November 2022, (b) £8,057.75 on 4 November 2022, (c) £5,211.00 on 8 November 2022 and (d) £6,465.49 on 29 November 2022 with Appreciate Group Plc.

Nigel Huddleston: The expenditure with Appreciate Group Plc was for the supply of non-cash award vouchers for the Department. These vouchers support the Department’s performance management reward process.

Small Businesses: Recruitment

Tom Hunt: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what recent steps her Department has taken to support small businesses with employing more staff.

Kevin Hollinrake: Government has taken action to support small businesses by reversing the National Insurance rise, saving small businesses approximately £4,200 on average, as well as raising the Employment Allowance to £5,000.The network of 38 Growth Hubs across England provides access to information and advice to SMEs, alongside our free Business Support Helpline. Businesses can also use the Apprenticeship Service to find out about funding to pay for apprenticeships.Furthermore, small businesses can access the Recovery Loan Scheme which helps smaller businesses access loans and other kinds of finance up to £2 million per business group so they can grow and invest.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-pacific Partnership

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether her Department has made a comparative assessment of standards on pesticides in CPTPP between members states and the UK; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Huddleston: The Government will not compromise on our high environmental protections and food standards in trade deals. Trade agreements to which we sign up will respect the regulatory autonomy of both the UK and our trading partners, including on pesticides. All agri-food products imported into the UK under existing or future free trade agreements will, as now, have to comply with our import requirements. This applies to the UK’s accession to CPTPP, as it does to our other deals. We will ensure decisions on the use of pesticides are based on careful scientific assessment and will not authorise pesticides that may carry unacceptable risks to people or the environment.

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-pacific Partnership

Dan Carden: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether she has made an assessment of the potential impact of accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on (a) workers' rights in the UK and (b) the ability of trade unions to challenge alleged abuses of workers' rights.

Nigel Huddleston: There is nothing in the CPTPP agreement which would cause the UK to weaken its own labour laws. CPTPP contains a comprehensive labour chapter with binding provisions that reaffirms CPTPP parties’ obligations as members of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and helps to protect labour rights and improve working conditions. The Chapter promotes enhanced co-operation and consultation including through public engagement with domestic stakeholders, such as trade unions, on a range of labour issues. It is also subject to the agreement’s dispute settlement mechanism and a range of mechanisms to facilitate implementation of the chapter, including public submissions.

Deep Sea Mining

Allan Dorans: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade,  whether she plans to take steps to ban deep sea mining in UK waters.

Ms Nusrat Ghani: There is no deep sea mining activity underway or approved in UK territorial waters. The UK has committed not to sponsor or support the issuing of any exploitation licences for deep sea mining projects unless and until there is sufficient scientific evidence about the potential impact on deep sea ecosystems and strong and enforceable environmental regulations and standards are in place. We would engage in public consultation ahead of making a decision to issue any UK-sponsored deep sea mining exploitation licence.

Cosmetics: Sodium Hydroxide

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, if his Department will take steps to ensure that manufacturers cannot label hair relaxers as containing no-lye if they include sodium hydroxide in the ingredients list; and if he will make an assessment of the prevalence of this practice.

Kevin Hollinrake: The Cosmetic Regulations state that a cosmetic product can not imply that the product has a characteristic or function which it does not have. Additionally, it requires products to include a full list of ingredients on the product’s label. Lye is the common name for sodium hydroxide. To be compliant with the regulations a product that contains lye as an ingredient must include this information on the label. The Office for Product Safety and Standards, in its role as the regulator for cosmetic products, will take appropriate action to ensure the safety of consumers should non-compliance with the Cosmetic Regulations be identified.

Scotland Office

Lord Advocate and Scotland Act 1998

Kenny MacAskill: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what discussions he has had with the Scottish Government on (a) changes to the Scotland Act 1998 and (b) the role of the Lord Advocate in the period since May 2022.

Mr Alister Jack: I have not had any discussions with the Scottish Government regarding the role of Lord Advocate and changes to the Scotland Act 1998 in the period since May 2022.